Chamber Group
by Rosabell
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran are both students at a music school in Japan. They never met each other until both won a major competition. Will love blossom between them as they get to know each other? AU, S+S. R+R please.
1. Default Chapter

Chamber Group

Chapter 1

" Arigatou, Otou-san!" She called, as she and Touya stepped out of the car. Her father waved, and drove off to find a parking space. Touya and Sakura entered the six story building of the music school, very proud they were to have gotten in in the first place. After all, it _is_ the most famous and best music school in Japan.

Touya pushed open the door for his sister and went inside.  
" ID, please." The security guard stated. Touya lifted the id card by its chain, and Sakura followed suit. Touya rubbed his shoulder, taking off the cello case strap to relieve his aching muscles. He grumbled as Sakura giggled, clutching the strap of her own violin case.  
" Hey, its your fault you didn't buy the case with wheels." She pointed out. " Although that thing costs a lot of money."  
" Thanks for pointing that out." Touya muttered. They entered the lobby.

Sakura was a twelve year old girl. She was an average girl, with large green eyes, strange for a Japanese girl, short, auburn hair; also strange for a Japanese, a delicately framed face, with two pimples on it; one on top of her nose and another on her forehead. For some reason it never developed into acne. Maybe it was the sushi...

It was a January Saturday morning: Saturday, because on weekdays they have regular school and on Sunday the school is basically closed save for the door, which allows teachers and students in for private lessons. It was snowing hard outside, but inside it was rather warm. Sakura smiled to herself. She liked the school. It was tough, tough to get in and tough to stay in there, but she managed. The lobby was grayish, but cozy and homely; homely in the sense that it was home_like_, not ugly. The walls were covered in some material she couldn't remember, and the floor was carpeted with gray colors and patterns of blue and white. There were soft cushioned chairs; more of long sofas, actually, arranged into lines as if it were a maze. Sakura looked at her watch. Eight forty five; she was fifteen minutes early. Chamber class starts at nine. Sakura shrugged, sat down, putting her instrument down, and just took out a book to start reading, careful to not get too absorbed or she'll be late. Touya was already off to his next class, afraid that if the elevators broke again he'll have to climb up to the fifth floor, carrying that cello case of his, by foot. Sakura would have helped him, but she doesn't want to. She had to finish that book for school, and as interesting as the story is, she has to practice violin, anyway. And besides, if the elevator _does_ break, which it usually does, her teacher is always late anyway, teaching his private student for about five to ten minutes longer than he was supposed to. That's okay, it's only chamber, after all, and a chamber trio at that.

" Ohayo, Sakura-chan. Early yet again, despite the weather!" Rika sat down beside her. " Oof. I play only one instrument. But feel my bag!" Sakura laughed, weighing it.  
" It's too much for a pianist." She agreed. " How many classes do you take?"  
" Eight."  
" Really? I take seven. What do you take, Rika-chan?"  
" Piano, of course. Theory II, Ear training II, Chorus, ano...Chamber, of course, Conducting I, that's six, hai? Mixed Composition, and Music History."  
" Hoe! No wonder your bookbag is so heavy!"  
" Hai. What do you take?"  
" I take Violin, Theory II, of course, also Ear training II, although that's in a different class. Chorus, Orchestra, Chamber, and Music History."  
" Your bookbag is not that heavy."  
" That's because most of the stuff is in my violin case."  
" Oh." Rika giggled. " Hey, did you see the bulletin board? They announced the winners of the Piano Concerto Competition ages 15 and down today. Also the violin concerto. Did you attend?"  
" Iie. I won last year. Remember last December? I played."  
" Hai. You were great, by the way! Kinomoto Sakura, winner of the Violin Competition! That's so awesome!"  
" Did you win the competition, Rika? You tried out, hai?"  
" Hai. Let's go see. I didn't see yet."  
" Rika-chan!" Chiharu and Noako ran up. " Did you see the bulletin board?"  
" Not yet. Why?" Rika stood up. Sakura followed suit. " Sakura-chan and I are just going there."  
" So you don't know then. You'll never believe this," Chiharu and Noako dragged Rika over to the bulletin board. Tomoyo was jumping in excitement.

" Oh my god." Rika was stunned. " I can't believe it."  
" Tomoyo, Rika was the runner up in the concerto competition!" Sakura cried. " Oh! Chiharu-san! Tomoyo won the violin competition! Congratulations to both of you!"  
" Arigatou." They both said, Tomoyo excited, Rika so shocked she could barely comprehend.  
" Who won the competition though? For piano?" Tomoyo asked, calming down.

Sakura looked at the notice.  
" Someone named..." She looked at it, " The winner of the piano concerto competition, ages 15 and down is...someone named Li Syaoran."  
" Li Syaoran?" The group spread to let others see. " I never heard of him before." Tomoyo blinked. " Sounds Chinese though..."

" Syaoran-san!" Someone yelled. They turned around to see a boy with glasses calling excitedly to one with brown hair and amber eyes. " About time!"  
" Hey!" The brunette asked. " I'm ten minutes early! What are you talking about?"  
" You mean you don't know?" Asked the boy with glasses. " You won the competition!"  
" Nani?" The brunette rushed over, followed by the boy with glasses and another one with black hair. The brunette read the notice.  
" Oh my god, I won the thing. I can't believe it!" The boy, Li, blinked, completely amazed. " I can't believe it."  
" Congratulations, Li-kun, I believe." Sakura smiled.  
" Arigatou." Li shook his head. " I can't believe it."  
" See?" The boy with glasses patted him on the back. " I told you you could do it."  
" Arigatou, Eriol-san." Li started laughing. " I did it. But...what happens now?"  
" You'll be performing in the last few months, Syaoran-san." Said Eriol. " You played Prokofiev, hai?"  
" Hai. Wow..." The boy went back to the seats, still shaking his head in wonder.

Sakura looked at her watch.   
" Hoe! Nine-o-clock! Better go!"  
" Ja ne, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo waved as Sakura picked up her things and rushed down the hallway towards the elevator.

  
  
The hallway was mostly yellowish, gold almost, like one of those yellow marble they use to line up the palaces. There were pictures of many artists giving master classes and important people, such as founders of the school as well as the President. Sakura payed no attention to the photographs; she never did, because usually, she was in a hurry, like now. Sakura rushed up the stairs and towards the elevator.

It didn't break, not this time, luckily. Sakura leaned against the elevator wall, pressing the four button, and as the door closed with several other boys: one carrying a trumpet case, another carrying a textbook, she hoped that the elevator wouldn't get stuck like it did the other time when Touya was in it. Third floor, the elevator stopped, and the trumpetist walked out. The door closed, and up it went again. Sakura walked out into the fourth floor and turned around as the door closed.   
The hallway was also grayish, but there was more tint of blue than in the lobby. The floor was also carpeted. She liked the carpeting. It was green and blue, but never mind that. She turned around as the hallway splitted, and rushed towards the couch in front of room 408.

" Ohayo, Sakura-chan." The girl smiled. Her name was Yuri, a strong pianist with black hair and brown eyes. " Sensei is late again. Teaching Dae Hee."  
" The Korean?" Sakura sat down. " Whew. Tomoyo-chan won the violin competition. Did you see it?"  
" Hai." Yuri perked up. " Say congratulations to her for me!"  
" Sure." Sakura smiled. " Where's Anzu?"  
" Anzu...she's late again." There was an expression of annoyance on the girl's face. " I guess she got stuck in traffic. When I got here, it was snowing like there's no end to it."  
" Hai. Poor Anzu-chan." Sakura sighed, leaning back. She briefly ran over the day's work ahead. _Chamber class, one hour, from nine to ten, unless sensei decides to end early. Ten to eleven is chorus, whew, and then from eleven to twelve is orchestra. Oh well; and twelve to one is my first break. One to one forty, ear training class, one forty five to two twenty five, theory class. Then's my next break. Three to four, Music history with the terrifying conductor of the Philharmonic orchestra, and four to five is my private lesson. Did I do my theory homework? Hai. We didn't have any ear training homework, did we? Iie. Music history, I did that. After all, I had all week. Of course I practiced my violin. All set and ready to go. _

" Ohayo, Sakura-chan, Yuri-chan. Gomen I'm late. It's terrible out there! Our tire nearly slipped and we nearly toppled over, but I'm here." Anzu rested her cello against the wall. Anzu had light brown hair and blue eyes, strange for a Japanese but she was half Caucasian. Sakura never bothered asking her which. Maybe Irish?

Just then, the door opened, and Mr. Noyse stepped out. He pushed his glasses up his nose and beckoned them in. Sakura picked up her music and violin, and went in after Yuri. The pianist, after all, is, more or less, the leader of the chamber group.

  
  
" Alright, alright, everyone, settle down." Terada stepped onto the platform, where the stool was already placed. Sakura stopped her playing and looked up at the conductor, who was right in front of her. Terada placed his music on the stand and put his bags down.  
" We'll start at page eleven; the Rachmaninov. Hopefully its better than last week." Terada slid off the stool and turned the page, than looked up, making sure everyone was ready. He gave an upbeat a few minutes later, and they began.

Shortly afterwards, much to Sakura's distress, although she was use to it, Terada gave the cut off sign. The music went on long after the cut off, though, and Terada-sensei was forced to say,  
" Alright, alright, arigatou. I don't want to hear that!"

Gradually, everyone got the information.

Sakura sighed. She was in the symphony orchestra, for ages twelve to fifteen, or course. The next one up was the philharmonic orchestra, for the sixteen to seventeen. Afterwards, it was college, for this _is_ the preparatory division, after all. Terada had stopped because the drummers had skipped a page. She expected that the philharmonic orchestra was no different. Drummers were not said to be the smartest; the old joke was...well, that could be left alone.

" What's going on back there?" He asked, pointing his baton at the drum area. This caused the orchestra to laugh, as every face was turned to the six drummers behind the brass section.  
" Gomen, sensei. The pages stuck together." Said a boy sheepishly.  
" Well, separate them!" Terada was smiling, sitting on his stool again, this time not planning to get off. " From page eleven! And this time, make sure your pages are not stuck together!"

He gave an upbeat as soon as everyone flipped their pages. This time the music went on for some time. Sakura grimaced as a string on her bow loosened and went waving behind her bow motions as if it was a flag. Tomoyo, who was right next to her, flipped the pages.

Then Terada stopped, Sakura didn't know why, but she focused on ripping the string out of the bow anyway.  
" Here here, give me the violin." Terada told Sakura, and Sakura handed him her instrument.  
" How do you bow all the way down, and come all the way up like this, Sakura, try it." The conductor handed her back her violin. Sakura blushed as she tried but couldn't do it.  
" See? If your concertmistress can't even do it, I have absolutely _no _idea how _you_ manage to do it-it's up down!" The conductor instructed the violin section, as the cellos, violas, and the second violins chuckled at the first violins. 

After what seemed like eternity, Terada decided that they were ready to leave Rachmaninov.  
" It's very good, everyone. You've improved." The conductor nodded, satisfied for once. " I have new music for everyone: We have to have this ready in time for the concert in May."

It turned out to be a Prokofiev piano concerto; which one it was Sakura never really paid much attention to. The strings and the cellos were already fingering their parts while the winds and brass were still getting their's. Finally, after some commotion, the conductor sat down on his favorite stool again, baton in hand, and everyone was at attention.

He gave an upbeat, singing along with them, only to stop at the first bar.  
" Matte! Iie iie iie. You're all out of tune! What's going on here? Tune! Yugi!"

So the orchestra hustled and bustled, trying to focus on their A's, and finally it quieted down.  
" Alright. Now we can start." Terada gave an upbeat, and they started playing, only to fall apart yet again. Sakura sighed. Only five minutes left. They certainly aren't going to get the concerto ready that week.

  
  
" So here, we have our little snowman." Yoshihara-sensei drew the three little eggs on the lines. " We move the middle one up and octave, and then you have an open triad. Does everyone understand?"  
" Hai." They all nodded. The students here weren't bored, even though they learned this already. After all, this is as close to a private lesson as you can get; having only twenty students in a classroom. That's a small number. Sakura smiled. Theory class and Ear training class are not boring really, and the forty minutes pass like a breeze. The homework was the annoying part...

  
  
" Alright, everyone, settle down." Yoshihara waved everyone down. " Settle down. Where's Jounouchi? He's absent. Someone tell him that the next time he's absent, he fails. Sakura's here, Chiharu, Tomoyo, by the way, Tomoyo! Congratulations!"  
" Ano...arigatou." Tomoyo blushed.  
" Noako's here, Rika. And congratulations to you too!"   
" Arigatou, sensei." Rika smiled.  
" Yamazaki, Eriol, Yugi, hm. Byung's here..." The philharmonic conductor went on for some time before putting the book down.  
" Alright. We'll begin where we left off..."

Sakura was bored. Music history was not her favorite class.

  
  
By the end of the day, Sakura was tired. She was very happy though.  
" You know how Mizuki-sensei is." She said to Tomoyo. " She is almost _never_ satisfied. You play for three hours, she tells you you should play for five. Where in the world can I get five hours? There's only twenty four hours in a day, and half that time you need to sleep. I am so happy she's _finally_ satisfied. The last time that happened was when I won the competition last year."  
" I know!" Tomoyo agreed. " I never made her satisfied. This was my first time. She was very proud."  
" Of course! You won this time! She knows it, of course." Sakura laughed. " Congratulations again, Tomoyo-chan. But anyway. I am so tired. What time is it, five? I have to wait for Oni-chan. He's coming down here in half an hour."  
" Ah well. I'll wait here with you. Oka-san is out again. I'm happy she agreed to let me play violin though. Wait until she hears about today!" Tomoyo smiled.   
" I'm sure she'll be proud." Sakura smiled. " Good job, Tomoyo-chan."  
" Arigatou. Everyone knows." Tomoyo laughed. " But I didn't tell them. I guess they saw on the bulletin board."  
" Of course." Sakura smiled.  
" I remember your brother also won the cello competition once." Tomoyo blinked.  
" That was two years ago, when he was fifteen. He won again in the sixteen and above competition last year."  
" I thought so. It seemed so long ago. He's very good." Tomoyo nodded. " Who would have thought, the Kinomotos are a family of winners!"  
" Hai!" Sakura giggled. " Now if only we could win the lottery..."

  
  
Sakura lied on her bed and closed her eyes. Today had been a tiring but good day. Rika winning as runner up, Tomoyo as first place, Mizuki-sensei _finally_ satisfied with her week of playing, getting to school on time, and after eight hours of school, coming home, watching television, which she only does on Saturdays, dinner, internet, which she also only does on weekends, and some teasing of oni-chan about calling her kaijuu, sleep. Ah. This is the last year it would be like this, because afterwards Touya would be off to college. And it's not going to be this music school's college. It would be another one, also one of the best in Japan.

But anyway. Sakura smiled. It has been a great day. She closed her eyes and went to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chamber Group

Chapter 2

" Arigatou, Mama!" Syaoran called that Saturday morning, as his four sisters led him to the entrance of the building. Fanren opened the door and passed the door to her other sisters before entering.

" ID, please." The security guard said, about the millionth time she said it that day. Syaoran showed her his id before moving on. His sisters rushed to the elevator. They were in haste, so they didn't stop to read the bulletin board. Eriol and Yamazaki were already there.  
" Syaoran-san! About time!" Eriol joked.  
" Hey!" Syaoran looked at his watch. " I'm ten minutes early! What are you talking about?"  
" You mean you don't know?" Eriol asked incredulously. " You won the competition!"  
" Nani?" Syaoran rushed over to the bulletin board, were several people were gathering. On it was clearly written, " This year's winner of the piano concerto competition, ages 15 and under, is LI SYAORAN."

" Oh my god, I won the thing. I can't believe it!" Syaoran blinked, stunned. " I can't believe it."  
" Congratulations, Li-kun, I believe." Said a girl with green eyes. Syaoran recognized her as the symphony orchestra's concertmistress as well as the winner of the violin concerto competition last year.  
" Arigatou." Syaoran shook his head. " I can't believe it."

It was always like that. The strings, brass, wind and piano competitions were all held around January or February. The winner of the violin competition as well as piano were somehow more significant than the others, because more people play those instruments. But the violinist always plays right before the Christmas break of the second year, while the pianist always plays right before the school ends on the same year.

Yamazaki laughed as Eriol patted Syaoran on the back. " See? I told you you could do it."  
" Arigatou." Syaoran laughed. " But...what happens now?"  
" You'll be playing in the last few months." Eriol told him. " You played Prokofiev, hai?"  
" Hai." Syaoran shook his head in wonder. " Wow..."  
" Wait until your mother sees that." Yamazaki laughed. " She'll be so proud. And your sisters. They'll be screaming."  
" Gomen. I can't wait." Syaoran jumped up. " Ai! Nine-o-clock! My chamber class! I'm going to be late, Ja ne!" He lifted his bookbag and nearly ran for the elevator, had he been allowed to.

  
  
" Ohayo!" Syaoran called to Yui, a violinist. " Gomen. One elevator got stuck on the fourth floor. I had to use the other one. Am I late?"  
" Almost." Yui looked at the door of room 512. " By the way. Congratulations!"  
" Nani? Oh. Arigatou!" Syaoran smiled. " I was so nervous about it. I still can't believe I really did it."  
" Well, you did, Syao." Yui smirked.  
" Hmph." Syaoran disliked the nickname, but there's no keeping Eriol and Yui from using it. Eriol, because he was annoying, and Yui, thanks to Eriol.  
" Where's Shigeru?" Syaoran asked.  
" Over there, getting a drink." Yui ran his fingers through his hair. " He's thirsty in this weather! It's really snowing out there!"  
" Hai. I got some trouble with traffic." Syaoran agreed. " He's always weird." He looked towards the cellist, coming back from the fountain. " Where's Chiriko?"  
" In the bathroom." Yui answered, just as the violist came out. " And just in case you're going to ask, Fujima is absent, or late, it depends."  
" That's the trouble with a quintet." Syaoran muttered dully. " Always someone missing."

Just than the door opened. The sensei smiled at them.  
" Ohayo, students!" he said kindly. " Congratulations, Syaoran! Good job!"  
" Arigatou, sensei." Syaoran blushed as he entered the room first. Pianists have nothing to carry except their books. The others, on the other hand...

" Ai, Syaoran-san, can you give me a hand here?" Shigeru asked.

  
  
" Hai, I know, it's crazy out there!" Eriol agreed. " It's snowing like...like the Yellow River! Only it's the Snow River."  
" Oh, arigatou for the compliment." Syaoran knew the meaning behind the words. " Although our river wasn't as exciting."  
" Hai, I guess." Yamazaki shrugged. " And all the talk of global warming."  
" What was the girl's name that was the runner up, Syaoran?" Asked a boy named Jounouchi.   
" Rika something." Syaoran blinked. " I'm guessing she was the brown haired girl. Oh well, she's pretty good. I didn't see her play, but it is hard even to win fifth place in that thing."  
" And you won first. I knew you could do it!" Eriol laughed.  
" Arigatou. You were always so faithful." This caused everyone to laugh, and Eriol blushed.  
" I'm having a concert today." Syaoran sighed. " I can't believe it." He looked about the cafeteria. 

The cafeteria was a big room. It was below the lobby, with stairs leading into it. There were circular tables with plenty of chairs around it, and students eating their lunch. Syaoran leaned back and looked at the clock against the wall in the back of the cafeteria, right on top of the windows. One-o-clock.

" Alright, I better get going; Yoshihara-sensei is very strict on getting to class on time."  
" Conducting, hai?" Eriol asked. " Yah! I better get going too. I have theory class. Mind if I come with you?"  
" Of course not." Syaoran swung his bookbag over his shoulder. Yamazaki and the others went on eating their lunch; they don't have any classes at this hour.

" I'm thinking about taking conducting." Eriol said to Syaoran. " Is it hard?"  
" Right now it is." Syaoran took out his baton, then put it back, satisfied that he had brought it. " The first year is alright. You have to know the names of the instruments in English, French, Italian, German and Japanese."  
" The English I know." Eriol shrugged. " I come from England, after all. German and Italian? French?"  
" Hai. You know. Petite flûte, violon, arpa, grancassa, klavier, ottavino. That sort."  
" Sounds easy enough." Eriol muttered. " You just memorize the names."  
" That's true. And they're often in score order so you can tell even if you forget. The transposition is harder though. _That_ you have to memorize, although some just tell you. You know, Trumpet in B flat, that sort."  
" You're discouraging me."  
" After the first quite boring semester, then you'll come to the actual conducting. Of course, by that time you'll need a baton. They don't sell batons at this school, pity. Yoshihara-sensei will teach you the basics, one two three, one two, that sort, cut time. And then he'll give you an easy symphony; something like Haydn in D major, and then wala. You start conducting. It's in room 331."  
" Three thirty-one? Nice! They have a great piano in that room, although unfortunately it's always flat." Eriol rubbed his chin. " That's annoying. The pitch is _always_ lower. No matter what the tuner does."  
" Well, at least that's not _our_ piano." Syaoran shrugged. " But the sound is very good, and the keys have a nice feel. If it happens to be that in your class next year, your class is missing some instruments, the pianists fill in. It's very nice."  
" That sounds encouraging."  
" Mind you, most people are fourteen or above in that class. Last year when I took the first course, I went in there and like, whoa! Everyone's four or more years older than I am! And when Yoshi-hara asked me what grade I was, and when I said sixth, he was like, ' Sixth grade!' Someone in the class, I think it was Taichi, said something like, ' He's the baby of the class!' The only problem was...of course, I was a little too short, so I couldn't watch the conducting classmate when I'm at the piano..."  
" Well, I'm alright around old people." Eriol laughed. They stood in front of the elevator.  
" How many classes do you have again? Six?"  
" Hai. I don't take chorus or music history."  
" Oh. So you have...chamber? Theory and ear training, of course. That's three...conducting, and two more. What are they?"  
" Composition and Private lesson, of course."  
" Ooh, your teacher is bound to be proud!"  
" I guess." The elevator opened and the two boys went in.

  
  
" You've got to be kidding me." Syaoran muttered as Eriol and Yamazaki sat with him in ear training class. They were staring into the textbook, asked to sight sing ' Sakura', the Japanese folk song. The only problem was, they had to sing it in pitch numbers."  
" Alright, I'm play with you all for the first time, and then you can try on your own." The sensei said from the piano. Syaoran sighed. _This is boring._

" One one two, one one two, one two three four one two one-seven-six..." The class sang. It probably sounds stupid to those who don't understand, but quite frankly it makes sense to some extent.  
" Try again. It's one two one six." the sensei instructed.  
" Would have been better if we just sang the actual words." Yamazaki muttered to Syaoran.  
" Would have been." Syaoran agreed.

  
  
" Finally, lesson over. But I have a concert." Syaoran banged his head on the cafeteria table. Eriol sighed.  
" Hey, if you could win the competition, why are you so scared of a concert?"  
" Because I have a bad case of stage fright."  
" That stage fright didn't cost you too much, eh? You still won."  
" By some weird luck, anyway."  
" What are you playing?"  
" Tarantula."  
" By Liszt? Wow. That's a tough piece."  
" Hai." Syaoran sighed. " Should I be worried."  
" _Iie._" Eriol cocked an eyebrow. " Relax. It's only five-o-clock. You still have an hour to go-the concert's at six."  
" What are you playing?"  
"Pathetique." Eriol answered.  
" Ugh! You're so lucky! I've always wanted to play that."  
" You have no idea how sore my arms were at first." Eriol groaned. " They were practically falling off their sockets. Beethoven didn't get the reputation of being violent for nothing."  
" I imagine." Syaoran answered. " But Tarantula is not easy either."  
" I love that piece." Eriol wiped his glasses. " There's this part that reminds me of an insect minding its own business, but here comes the spider! Where are your sisters, by the way?"  
" They're going to come down at six. They have their own concert."  
" Why don't you go listen to them?"  
" No way. I'm so tired. I feel like sleeping."  
" Let's go to the lobby. I don't feel sleepy. I'll make sure I wake you up." Eriol smiled.

Much to his surprise Syaoran nodded.

" Gladly!"

  
  
" Wake up, Syao!" Eriol shook the boy. " It's time! Five fifty five, mind you!"  
" Huh?" Syaoran rubbed his eyes. " Oh. Time. I see."  
" Good thing you're already dressed." Eriol helped the other boy up. " Otherwise, you'll be late. Although you're the last one."  
" Hey, being last isn't that good."  
" True. But the last is always the best. I use to be the last, until _you_ came two years ago."  
" Hey! Gomen, but it's not my fault I want to be good."  
" And you turned out to be the best."  
" One of them. You won the competition last year." Syaoran followed Eriol to the elevator.  
" Elevator? To the first floor? You lazy!"  
" I don't feel like climbing." Eriol explained. " And the staircases are so long."

Luckily, no one was in the elevator, so they didn't interrupt anything. Syaoran headed to the backstage area of Yagami Hall and sat down.  
" Konbonwa!" Said a girl, her name was Yoko. " Our little star!"  
" Arigatou. Stop it." Syaoran blushed.  
" Congratulations, anyway." Said another one, Mariko was her name-she was Yoko's sister.  
" Arigatou. Did it start yet?"  
" Byung Ahn already went in." Yoko said.   
" Oh. Do you have the program?" Syaoran asked. Yamazaki handed him the program; it was on a blue sheet of paper. Syaoran sat down on the soft couch-too soft actually, and scanned the sheet.  
" Nineteen people. Whoa, sensei really has a lot of students." Eriol looked at it. " Last time I saw there were only eleven."  
" Nineteen people. But last time he didn't include Hua and Kyu." Syaoran answered.  
" Who were they again? Hua's the Chinese girl...who's Kyu?"  
" The Korean. Don't you remember? Tall guy, about thirteen or so, gaunt looking, looks like he didn't eat for several decades."  
" Hai, I remember him. He's the guy with the dark tan, hai?"  
" Hai."

There was a sound of applause from the audience. Mariko paled.  
" My turn." She said mournfully, as a releaved Byung opened the door and came in, while nearly collapsing.  
" How many people were there?" Eriol asked.  
" What do you expect? Nineteen people. Mariko and Yoko are one group, Kyu and Danbi are one group, and so you basically have...twenty two people, not including the guests and our sensei." Syaoran paled. " Oh boy..."

  
  
" Good luck." Eriol said to Syaoran as he went in. Syaoran walked on stage and there was a great applause. He smiled shyly, bowed, and sat down.

_ Since when did Eriol become so tall?_ He wondered as he lowered the seat. _Oh shoot, oh shoot, such a big audience! Why did they all have to come? My sisters, ack!_

Syaoran settled himself down and stared at the keys. _Whoa, the keys are bright. Must calm down. You ready Syaoran? Good._

He began, and gradually he forgot his fear. The audience was still there but he couldn't see them anymore. He couldn't afford to pay attention to them. He was paying too much attention to his piece.

After what seemed like a short time, Syaoran was done. And as soon as he did, he suddenly realized how nervous he actually was during that entire time. He bowed, and then he felt so sick, so _sick_, as if he was about to faint any minute. He walked to backstage and closed the door. He was received with a pat on the shoulder.  
" Good job, Syaoran-san! You were great!" Eriol told him reassuringly.  
" I think I'm going to faint." Was all Syaoran said.

  
  
" Yuck. Cheese. It tastes like vomit." Syaoran grimaced.  
" I know! What kind of horrible cheese is that?" Eriol agreed. " I mean, I love cheese, but that kind is just horrible. It tastes like the thing was spoiled."  
" The sandwiches are good!" Yamazaki chuckled. " Do you know that cheese was actually invented in North America? The Native Americans..."

" Ignore him." Syaoran whispered to Mariko, who was a little bit confused. " He's always making up stories during receptions.

" And tobacco was also one of the inventions the Europeans found in the North American region..."  
" He never quits, does he?" Yoko sighed. " Our old Yamazaki."  
" That's him alright. If there's one day when he doesn't do that I'd swear he's drunk." Syaoran shrugged. " I so hate cheese. You have more of those soda over there?"  
" Hai, first place winner." Yoko teased. " I so envy you. But you did it, anyway. Look, garlic bread. Want your breath to smell like garlic?"  
" Do you think I care? I'm staying home tomorrow!" Syaoran laughed.  
" But I'm visiting!" Eriol pouted. Syaoran blinked.  
" Oh. Right. Then please eat some garlic bread so we can't smell the breath of the other."  
" No way. I suggest you don't eat it either. Who's taking home all this?"  
" The sensei."  
" No way."  
" Iie. Actually, I thought Takato was going to take these home. He's the only person who can finish all this tomorrow, in any case, and he's the only one who has space in his car."

Eriol laughed. Syaoran is so funny.

  
  
Syaoran lied down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Today was a good day. First he actually pleased his teacher. Second, he won the competition. Third, the concert was alright. Four, he had a chance to eat at the reception. Five, well, everyone knows him now. Syaoran chuckled at that. As he closed his eyes he thought about the future. _Oh shoot, I have to practice that Prokofiev with the Symphony Orchestra. Welcome concerts._ And with that, he fell asleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chamber Group

Chapter 3

" Ohayo, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo smiled as she stood up. " Early again!"  
" By twenty minutes." Sakura glanced at her watch. " Funny. I was never early for regular school. In fact, I was always late."  
" I guess you just like this school better." Tomoyo smiled. The girls sat down in the gray lobby. They weren't going to go down to the cafeteria because it simply wasn't worth it.

" Do you think I can do it next semester?" Tomoyo asked. " I mean, in that big hall."  
" Hoe! Why are you thinking about that right now? It's months away! You're going to play in December, for heaven's sakes! And besides." Sakura leaned back. " You passed the competition. You _won_ it. What's a little concert?"  
" Well." Tomoyo smiled. " Oka-san was so proud, she actually stayed home all day last Sunday. And she actually ate dinner with me every night this past week!" She squealed slightly. " I'm so happy!"  
" Hai, I'm proud of you." Sakura understood that Sonomi was very busy and Tomoyo was often lonely. " Look, there's Rika-chan!"  
" Ohayo." Rika waved, as she came to join them.  
" How are you?" Tomoyo asked.  
" I'm fine. I still can't believe I did it."  
" The note is still on the bulletin board, if you want to see it to make sure." Sakura giggled. " They announced the winners of those sixteen and up. Do you want to look?"  
" Sure." Rika and the other girls made their way to the bulletin board, leaving their belongings behind. No one is lame enough to steal a used violin anyway, and everyone has music books. Not money.

" The pianist is someone named Hitoshi Ryou. Weird. Never heard of this person before."  
" Ohayo, Sakura-chan!" Someone called. Sakura turned around.  
" Oh, Yuri, it's good! You made it."  
" I always make it." Yuri sniffed. " Who won?"  
" Someone named Hitoshi Ryou for the Piano competition. Another person named...I think he's a Chinese. Wang Xijin."  
" Strings, right?"  
" Hai." Sakura blinked.  
" I never heard of them before." Yuri shrugged. " Wow. We're early. Want to wait here or start up?"  
" It's too early. Down here is much more relaxing." Sakura laughed.

Just then, the door opened, revealing Syaoran and Eriol. There were a couple of other girls who started for the hallway in the same manner as Touya did.

" So she tried to get the tuner to tune the piano. The piano was just _flat._ And the pedal wouldn't stop creaking. The guy said that they had to change the whole action part because the brass in the hammers rusted-hey, they posted up the winners of the sixteen to seventeen year olds. Let's go see what it says." Syaoran gently pushed his way towards the bulletin board.

" Aw, too bad you sister didn't make it." Eriol said apologetically. " But at least you did."  
" Hai." Syaoran sighed. " It's a good thing she didn't stop to look. Oh hello, Kinomoto-san, I believe."  
" Ohayo Li-san." She bowed.  
" I heard you play last December." Syaoran said politely. " You were very good."  
" Arigatou." She blushed.  
" It's nine fifty. I better get going."  
" Nine fifty?" Sakura looked at her watch. " Oh. Me too."  
" Oh." Syaoran held the strap of his bookbag as he and Sakura went off to the hallway.

Eriol and Tomoyo looked at each other. They don't know each other, but both had a funny grin on their faces.

  
  
" You come from Hong Kong?" Sakura asked as she waited by the elevator.  
" Hai. I came here when I was ten."  
" Wow. Your Japanese is very good." Sakura blinked, very impressed.   
" Arigatou." Syaoran looked up.  
" How long have you been in this music school?" Sakura asked.  
" Two years."  
" Wow. I've been here for five."  
" Who's your teacher?"  
" Mizuki Kaho."  
" Mizuki Kaho! I've heard of her, even though she's a violin teacher. They say she's very strict."  
" Hai. She is. But she is nice too. She never loses her temper."  
" Well, for a winner like you, doubtless she wouldn't." Syaoran smiled. Sakura blushed.  
" Who's your teacher?"  
" His name is Wakabayashi Yuuki."  
" Wakabayashi? I've heard of him too. They say that he's very very strict about getting to class on time."  
" Well, if you're late only three to five minutes, that's alright. If you're late any more than that, he gets angry."  
" I see."  
" Is the elevator stuck again?"

At this time, a bunch of students were murmuring, some setting their backpacks on the floor, complaining as one elevator showed it was on the first floor but was not coming down to the main floor, and another showed that it was going up instead of down.  
" I'm guessing that one is." Sakura pointed to the one on the first floor. " You'd think with all the money they earn in this place they could afford to have good elevators."  
" Hai. I mean, with all the nonsense of Food festivals and all that." Syaoran wrinkled his nose. " And the secretaries all fat and growing."

Sakura giggled.   
" Well, Kinomoto-san. Are you related to Kinomoto Touya?"  
" You can call me Sakura." Sakura smiled. " And hai. I'm his sister."  
" Wow. I've heard that he rivals Ma Yo Yo." Syaoran blinked, impressed.  
" Well, maybe not that much." Sakura blushed. " Oh, Li-kun, over here. The elevator's here."  
" You can call me Syaoran."  
" Syaoran-kun." Sakura blushed.

One of the students brushed in as the doors closed.

" Took this thing long enough." He muttered. Syaoran and Sakura looked at each other, then shrugged.

  
  
" Alright, settle down." The conductor stood on the podium, or rather, sat on the podium, since his famous little stool was there again. " Everyone, take out Carmen! We didn't get a chance to look at it last week. I'm hoping it's better now, since you have two weeks to practice."

Sakura shrugged and flipped the pages. Tomoyo whispered beside her.  
" Did you get a chance to talk with that Li kid?"  
" Hai. He's very nice. Very polite."  
" Kawaii." Tomoyo reminded her. Sakura blushed. " Tomoyo-chan!"  
" Just kidding." Tomoyo giggled.

" Alright. We'll start from the beginning. Cellos, are you ready?"

There came a chorus of ' Hai', and then Terada gave an upbeat, and the cellos began. Sakura leaned back. This was not for the violins; it was for the trumpets, anyway. 

Yusuke, who was the trumpeter of the moment, was the one who was playing. After a while Sakura and the rest of the violin section started plucking at the strings; pizzicato.

It was rudely stopped when the cymbals fell clattering onto the floor. The drummers gave a look of nervousness and annoyance at the two metal plates. The music stopped.

" Alright, put that thing in the safe place where it wouldn't go falling all over the place." Terada waited as the percussion section picked up the pieces sheepishly.   
" Is it broken?"  
" Iie." Said one boy.  
" Good. We'll continue from letter G. Violins?"

They all nodded.

  
  
  
" Alright, alright, arigatou!" Terada looked down, slightly amused, as the orchestra continued playing for a brief moment even after he had given the cut off sign. " Arigatou! Wonderful concert. Now, remember to watch me. If I give the cut off sign, that means you _stop._ Now, we won't look at Rachmaninov today. Take out Prokofiev! It was very good sight reading you did last week. I'm hoping you would keep that up."  
" Sure." Sakura muttered. " After we stopped and had a lecture for about thirty minutes or so." Tomoyo giggled.

" We'll start from the beginning and see how far we can go." Terada sat up straight, still not willing to get off that stool, and gave an upbeat. Soon, after about two pages or so, the conductor gave a cut off sign. This time, everyone did stop, because there was a long moment of rest where the pianist plays.

Sakura took a look at her watch. Eleven forty. She sighed. 

" Steadier, violas. You have to be more secure. Flutes, back there! Tune up! One of you is flat. Percussion, don't go racing away at your own rhythm..." Sakura sighed. Here goes one of those commands again. Briefly she thought of one of those cruel jokes on conductors.

_' You have Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and a conductor stored inside a room. You are given a gun, with only one bullet in it. Which one would you shoot first?'_

' Answer: Conductor.'

" Alright! Measure twenty four! I want this concerto done in a month. In April the pianist is going to join us." Terada flipped through the pages. " One more time and we're done for today."  
" Thankfully." Sakura muttered under her breath, so only Tomoyo heard her. " I've had enough of this."

  
  
" Another concert." Syaoran sniffed as he sat in theory class at ten thirty. " Another concert. I'm having another concert next week, Eriol-san. I'm going to die."  
" Don't be a baby." Eriol slapped the boy on the back.  
" But seriously! A concert every two weeks. It use to be once a month and I couldn't handle that, seriously. And now, two every month. No, seriously!"  
" Now now, don't be a wimp. After all, that's what happened for the few months before."  
" This is exactly what I said to every one of them."  
" You should have gotten use to it by now, Syaoran-san. I mean, it's happened for the past semester already."  
" A concert every two weeks! How the heck am I supposed to prepare a new piece for each concert?"  
" Relax. And besides, sensei lets you do repeats."

Syaoran banged his head into the desk at that, just as the door banged against the wall as the teacher came in.  
" I hate it when he does that." Eriol muttered.  
" Mm." Was all Syaoran said.

  
  
" Lunch! My favorite time of the day!" Syaoran practically rushed down the stairs. " I'm starving! What are they having, fried chicken?"  
" Syaoran, calm down! Why are you so excited about lunch today?"  
" Because Music History was horrible! I practically died of boredom!" Syaoran literally threw his bookbag onto a spare chair and rushed to get a tray. Eriol and Yamazaki looked at each other.  
" I don't know what he's talking about." Eriol and Yamazaki don't take Music History.  
" Let's just go get lunch." Eriol sighed. They each got their own trays.

  
  
" Orchestra passed a lot quicker today." Tomoyo observed as she and Sakura entered the elevator. " He even let us out early. Sensei never does that."  
" Before, that is. He must be in a hurry. He said something about going to some kind of concert after class."  
" Good thing he is. I need some rosin, my bottle has run out. Do you have any spare ones?"  
" Sure." Sakura took out a bottle of the white powder and handed it over to Tomoyo as the elevator opened.  
" Arigatou." Tomoyo held the bottle as they walked through the hallway. " I'm glad they place lunchtime at twelve. It seems so appropriate."  
" I know. You rarely have that. Doubtless next year it'll be different." Sakura started down the stairs into the cafeteria. " Gosh, I'm hungry. How much money do I have? I only have...urgh, I have to ask Oni-chan for money."  
" There he is. Want to go?"  
" Sure. Oni-chan!" Sakura called, rushing towards her brother. Touya looked up and smiled.  
" What now, kaijuu? Need some money?"  
" Oni-chan!" Sakura stamped on his feet. Touya winced. " Come on. They're selling fried chicken today."  
" The chicken is so expensive." Touya grumbled as he handed his sister the money. " Don't bother buying any soda, kaijuu. Otherwise you'll bloat."  
" Oni-chan!" Sakura huffed, then grabbed a tray. She slid it along the shelf up to Eriol.  
" Oh, konnichiwa, Kinomoto-san." Eriol blinked, and smiled. At the name Syaoran turned around.  
" Oh, Sakura-chan! Wow, I didn't know that we have the same break time."  
" Well, don't speak too soon." Sakura laughed. " How long is your break?"  
" An hour. Then I have to get to conducting."  
" With Yoshihara?" Sakura blinked. " Ugh! That guy's tough!"  
" Tell me about it." Syaoran waited with his plate of french fries and fried chicken, as Eriol took his sandwich. " I have him for Music History too."  
" Fried chicken." Sakura told the chef, as the woman took four strips and put them on the plate.   
" Anything else?" She asked.  
" Ano...can I have corn, please?" She asked. " You have him for Music History? Which class?"  
" Eleven to Twelve."  
" Ugh!" Sakura grimaced. " Double the dumps, eh? Do you want to sit together?"  
" Sure, no problem." Eriol smiled. " By the way, congratulations Daidouji-san. I forgot to say that earlier today."  
" Hey, I practically forgot myself." Tomoyo giggled, as the group made their way to the table where Eriol and Syaoran threw their stuff.  
" Where's Yamazaki?" Syaoran asked.  
" Probably up there. He decided he didn't want lunch, so he went to the lobby to do his homework."  
" Naughty! He doesn't do his homework during the week!"

Eriol laughed. The four sat down.  
" So, how's it like being the best of the best?" Sakura asked Syaoran.  
" Weird, no doubt. Of course, the fame fades quickly."  
" Terada-sensei is killing us with your Prokofiev, Li-san." Tomoyo joked.  
" Gomen." Syaoran smiled. " They say that Terada is as tough as Yoshihara. Terada is Yoshihara's student, did you know that? Or was, actually."  
" Hai. He always joins Yoshihara's conducting classes." Tomoyo nodded. " Rika takes conducting."  
" Oh. The first one, right?" Syaoran asked. " Is she the one that was the follow up?"  
" Hai."  
" Oh. Say congratulations to her for me. I am not in her conducting class, so." Syaoran smiled. " Is she conducting Haydn?"  
" I don't know. I never asked." Sakura swallowed. " Whose cello is that?"  
" Oh," Eriol blushed. " That's mine. I'm a cello major."  
" Oh." Sakura blinked.   
" Hai." Syaoran elbowed Eriol. " Told him to become a piano major. He wouldn't listen."  
" What are you talking about?" Eriol pouted. " I like the cello."  
" Hai. He wants to be Ma Yo Yo. Not happening Eriol."  
" Ugh!" Eriol pouted even more, as the girls laughed. " Watch it, you."  
" Are you a full sized or a three quarter sized?" Tomoyo asked.  
" Full size. The cello is brand new. So don't touch it."  
" He's an only child." Syaoran grinned.  
" Oh! You gaki!" Eriol protested.  
" Selfish as always."

They laughed.

" Oh, by the way, I got a new piano." Syaoran said to everyone.

Eriol choked. " You said that five times in the car."  
" I'm just so happy!" Syaoran protested. " After all, seven years with an upright Kawai-that's not a nice experience."  
" In any case, the Kawai is new, and you won a competition through it."  
" I know, but still, grands are the best. Although you always have to tune them."  
" Oh." Sakura blinked. " Is it ebony or..."  
" A walnut." Syaoran answered proudly. " Fits my living room perfectly!"  
" Is it yellow teeth or white?"  
" What are you talking about?"  
" The keys, you baka." Eriol elbowed Syaoran. " They use to make ivory keys, until the whole thing with elephants came up."  
" Poor elephants. If only ivory was a metal." Syaoran frowned. " I never touched ivory keys."  
" You didn't? I went to Germany once. You know, where they sell Steinways?"  
" Hai. They have a factory in New York too. So what were you doing in Germany?"  
" The truth is, I was there for a cello competition. They had a Steinway piano made in the nineteen...twenties, I think. The keys were so great. They're yellow, of course. But they have a nice confirming feel to them. I don't know how to explain."

Sakura smiled as envy became apparent in Syaoran's eyes. " Lucky!" He pouted.  
" I would like to try one of those ivory keys." Tomoyo said sincerely, " Even if I don't play the piano, I at least know where the middle C is."

This made everyone at the table laugh.

" Every musician has to know that." Eriol got the better of his mirth. " At least one key, anyway. Because if there's a piano nearby you need to tune to it. Speaking of tuning, you know what happened to me one time? I had my cousin over for about a week during the Christmas vacation. He's what, six years old? So of course he got bored with my practicing the piano and cello, until he found the tuning fork."  
" Oh!" Sakura blinked.  
" His cousin decided to take it away from Eriol once he finished using it." Syaoran chuckled. " We thought six year olds weren't supposed to play with fire! The guy went to the kitchen and turned on the fire in the stove, and decided to melt his tuning fork."  
" That didn't work," Eriol wiped his glasses, " So he decided to turn to the oven. _That _worked. And it was a majorly white Christmas, with blizzards to call for the count, so all the music shops were closed. Plus, the piano got sort of messed up. I couldn't play for four days."  
" The good thing was, the tuning fork made a really nice dish." Syaoran chuckled, ignoring the glare from Eriol.  
" It's a good thing tuning forks are not _that _expensive." Sakura cocked her eyebrow. " But that cousin of yours sounds really naughty."  
" He is. I can't count the times when I had to get my cello restringed."  
" He even spilled rosin all over the floor." Syaoran answered. " One time he even dumped the powder into the piano. Another time, he poured water into it. The technician had to get all the rust out."  
" Whoa, that's a bad boy." Sakura raised her eyebrows. " How do you manage to cope with him?"  
" I honestly have no idea." Eriol laughed. " Let's see, twelve fifteen. I'm done."  
" Me too." Tomoyo answered. " We're all done."  
" So, do you want to go practice?" Syaoran asked Sakura.  
" I'm not practicing!" Eriol quickly backed out.  
" Oh come on, we'll look for the room with a large area." Syaoran dragged Eriol to his feet. " Are you coming? We can play Stravinsky, and scare everyone out of our room whenever they hear us."  
" Sure. That can really call for a high level of concentration. Tomoyo-chan?"  
" I'm coming. Let's dump the trash first."

  
  
" He wants me to play Toccata next week." Syaoran sighed. " Ugh!"  
" At least we know it's ready." Eriol answered, tightening his bow. " Come along. Let's have our A. You're using an electronic keyboard-the only thing those things are good for is their pitches are always correct."

Syaoran frowned, pressing the key, and then came a chorus of tuning.  
" Amazing. That sounds like the orchestra." Syaoran blinked.  
" Don't." Tomoyo and Sakura began.  
" You know, I find this strange." Tomoyo began. " I never saw you in the orchestra. Are you in Terada's class?"  
" Hai. I was sitting in the second row this year, because," Eriol blushed. " I flunked the audition."  
" Sitting in the second row doesn't say flunking." Sakura said gently. " Ugh! Mizuki-san wants the Bach to be ready next week!"  
" I'm so dead." Was all Eriol and Tomoyo said, in unison, actually, as they began.

  
  
" So how was your day?" Syaoran asked as he and Sakura met up again.  
" Tiring." Sakura answered. " Every single day is tiring. Today is just more so, since I have so many classes. Who would have known listening takes so much energy."  
" I don't think it's so much the listening. It's the fact that you actually hear the sound that is exhausting." Syaoran sat down. " I'm waiting for my sisters. Probably caught up talking with some friends again. They're always late."  
" Oni-chan always has a hard time with the cello."  
" Tell me about it! Carrying that thing around. It's hard not imagining him as a hunchback of Notre Dame when he gets to thirty five years old."

Sakura giggled. " Well, if we were on flat ground, he could use the wheels."  
" Lucky." Syaoran pouted. " My sister doesn't have wheels on her cello. She's getting that kind though-is it expensive?"  
" It costs more then the other one. But it depends on which case you get. Some are better than others."  
" Well, I'm glad I play the piano. Don't have to carry that thing around."  
" Forget it! I don't even know how they manage to get those things into the practice rooms. And the stupid thing is, every one of the rooms have a sign saying, ' Do Not Remove The Piano. It Belongs To This Room.'"  
" Well, they take off the legs and the pedals..."  
" Hai, sure, we're going to take the legs and the pedals off the piano, and then just carry that big thing out the door without being caught. Seriously, Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran laughed. " Ah, there are my sisters. See you next week!"  
" That's oni-chan. Ja!" Sakura laughed, as she and Syaoran parted ways for the day. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chamber Group

Chapter 4

" I'm so late!" Sakura rushed upstairs. " It's nine twenty! I'm so late!"  
" That you are." Said Yuri from the piano. " Luckily, Sensei isn't here."  
" Really? He's that late?"  
" Iie. He's not coming today. Obviously you didn't stop to read the notice on the door."

Sakura blinked, then put down her violin, opening the door.

On it, was clear words.

Taichi Noyse Would Not Be Here Today. Lessons Would Be Made Up.

Blinking, Sakura blushed. " Oh."

" Ohayo Sakura-chan." Anzu came in. " It's a good thing Noyse isn't here yet. Did you hear that Yoshihara's conducting our orchestra today?"  
" Hoe?" Sakura blinked. " He is?"  
" Hai. Terada is absent on an emergency and he couldn't come. I couldn't come last time to the concert because I was having my private lesson. How did it go?"  
" The Symphony Orchestra concert?" Yuri cried, distressed. " Ugh! It was last week?"  
" Hai." Sakura nodded. " We performed the Rachmaninov. Finally."  
" I did want to go there." Yuri sat down, very unhappy.  
" Don't you worry."  
" We're going to the room where the Conducting II class is." Anzu continued. " It's at one this time. Yoshihara wanted us to go up to the sixth floor. They say we're performing Swan Lake."  
" Swan Lake, by Tchaikovsky? The ballet? Really?" Sakura jumped up. " That is so cool!"  
" Hey, we're not performing the whole ballet, mind you. We're only performing about five to seven suites."  
" But still, Swan Lake is one of the most beautiful pieces of work ever written."  
" I know." Anzu agreed. " Shall we practice?"

  
  
The orchestra was basically a mess, with the conducting class standing or sitting among them. The orchestral players wove among them. Sakura noticed a strange, tall and lanky looking boy, holding a violin and viola and looking from one to the other, as if wondering which he should play. He was obviously from the Conducting class. 

Setting her case in the back of the room she opened it and took out her violin.  
" Konnichiwa, Sakura-san."  
" Hoe?" Sakura looked around. " Oh, Konnichiwa, Syaoran-kun. Oh, right, you're in the conducting class, hai?"  
" Hai." Syaoran grinned. " One of my friends suggested we play the Swan Lake along with you-you know, to mess you all up."

Sakura giggled. " Naughty!" She sighed. " This is going to be _hard._"  
" Swan Lake is hard." Syaoran agreed, " But after a few tries it should be easier. Tchaikovsky loves his orchestras, repeating the same melody over and over again."  
  
Sakura laughed. " Ah well, this is a chance for you to see what orchestras are like when they meet the a piece for the first time, iie?"  
" I can't wait." Was the boy's reply.

  
  
" Alright. I'm going to take attendance." Yoshihara sat on his stool. Syaoran smiled. It seems every conductor likes stools, for some reason.  
" Kinomoto Sakura?"  
" Here!"  
" Wakabayashi Yoko?"  
" Here!"

Syaoran sat down beside his friend Liang.  
" Just the attendance is going to take him a good fifteen minutes." The boy muttered.  
" Mm." Liang agreed. " Funny. Why is the winner of the competition not the concertmistress?"  
" The Concertmistress won last year."  
" Oh. You know her?"  
" Hai. Her name's Kinomoto Sakura. You know Kinomoto Touya?"  
" The tall cello player? Of course!"  
" Well, she's his sister."  
" Oh! Sweet! But...I don't see any resemblance..."  
" There is none."  
" Oh."

" Alright, let's give this piece a try." Yoshihara held his baton up. Syaoran glanced at the clock. One Fifteen, just as he imagined.

Yoshihara gave an upbeat. The violins and violas began. Yoshihara cut off immediately.  
" I want it to have an accent. See sforzando? DI dididididididi. Try again, strings only."

The strings began. Syaoran looked at the double bass before him, as the cellos and the basses plucked. The oboe started.  
" Strings!" he told the oboe player. " Are you a string player? You don't look like one." The pianists in the conducting class laughed.  
" Try again." Yoshihara gave an upbeat. The violins started, the basses and the cellos plucked, and the conductor, in his nasal voice, began singing the other parts.  
" Deeee da da da da deeee da deeeeee da deeeeee da di da da di dum," Syaoran winced. The conductor would not make a good singer. He totally ruined the whole piece.  
" ...Deee da deee da Duuum! Dom dum dum dum Duuuum du duuum du duuum di duu di du di duuum!" Syaoran blinked as the first suite was finished. Well, at least the conductor has good pitch, even if his nasal quality wasn't really wanted.  
" Very good." Yoshihara turned the pages back to the original one.

Syaoran turned to Liang. " Is he talking about himself or the orchestra?" He whispered. Liang chuckled.

" Alright, the woodwinds and the brass can join in." Yoshihara lifted his baton and waited.

The violins started. The cellos began plucking. The oboe began the famous oboe solo, and the harp didn't know what to do. Yoshihara cut off.  
" Too early." He told the harpist. Syaoran and Liang were laughing to themselves. _This is too terrible._

By the time the violins had the melody, the high woodwinds were playing the harmonic chords. Yoshihara stopped them as the students of the other class laughed hysterically. It was quiet, so no one minded.

" You're all out of tune!" He cried. " Let me hear your B." The flutist looked at him smugly.  
" We don't have the first flute part." He said.  
" Oh? Well, why didn't you tell me before?"   
" He said he was going to get us some." The student answered, referring to the fat guy that had been handing out the parts.  
" Oh, so he ran out. I'm pretty sure it's B, though, since it's in my score." The conducting students laughed.  
" Let me hear your B."

The flute played.  
" Flat." Yoshihara said flatly. The flutist pushed his mouthpiece in so the pitch would be higher.  
" Sharp."  
" Flat."   
" Sharp."

Syaoran and Liang started laughing again. " First it's flat, then it's sharp." Syaoran whispered. " This would take a while.

Yoshihara grimaced at the last one. " Hmmm...alright, that's okay I guess. Let me hear both of you."

" Bbbb!"  
" Okay. Let me hear that F."  
" Flat."  
" You're sharp. Let me hear both of you."  
" You're both flat. You're flatter then him."

Liang whispered to Syaoran. " He spent ten minutes on the flutes. Wonder what he's going to do with the oboes."

Syaoran blinked. " Not going to be too soon."  
" You're flat!"  
" Sharp!"

Liang scratched his nose. " Wish I brought a camcorder."  
" Tomoyo would have brought it." Rika whispered to Syaoran, the two having known each other already. " She's crazy about taping things. Shoot! Only half an hour and I would have to go. Darn!"

Syaoran looked at his watch. " Hm." He thought. The orchestra continued.

" Very good." Yoshihara stood up. " Now, we're going to the waltz. Conducting class, I told you about this. Conducting in one is the nightmare of the orchestra..." And the teacher went on about how the orchestra was used to having every beat signaled for them. Rika sighed and closed her eyes. She was so tired.

  
  
Thirty minutes later Syaoran nudged her.  
" We better get going." He told her.

Rika looked at the clock. " Oh." She stood up. Liang nodded at Syaoran before turning back to the orchestra. The two exited the room as Yoshihara continued tunings the trumpets.

  
  
" I'm having a concert next week." Syaoran grumbled.  
" Really?" Sakura asked, waiting with him patiently in the lobby for their siblings. " Didn't you already have one last week?"  
" Hai."  
" Then why have another? So fast?"  
" Because ever since this year started I've been having a concert every two weeks."  
" Oh good heavens!" Sakura blinked. " But last time you were pretty good. I loved the Toccata, although it's contemporary music."  
" I liked it too. But not the concert. It was mushed up!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. " Now I know why you have stagefright." She scolded gently. " You expect too much of yourself."

Syaoran glared at her and then turned away. " My sisters are so late."  
" So's my brother."  
" You guys were horrible today."  
" I know! It wasn't that hard, but the woodwinds messed up everything."  
" It wasn't just the woodwinds. Did you hear the timpani? The guy's banging all over the place. And I don't know about you, but you violins made some really funny chords on the Spanish Dance-"

Sakura slapped Syaoran's arm with her bookbag and Syaoran winced, laughing.  
" Ow! Should have seen that coming! Crazy girl's resorting to ee!" Syaoran dodged. Sakura laughed and slipped her bookbag over her shoulder again.   
" I played everything right, what are you talking about? I'm always right!"  
" Wishful thinking." Syaoran laughed as Sakura threatened to slap his arm again, with her bookbag as her weapon.

" So, did you work on the Prokofiev?"  
" Your piece?"  
" Hai."  
" Actually, we did, but only for ten minutes because that's all the time left. Yoshihara spent a lot of time tuning the woodwinds and brasses."  
" Hm. I didn't know that conductors tune each blower at a time."  
" Well, they do, if they have the care, which they usually do. Yoshihara isn't that bad."  
" Hai, with all the terrible rumors about him-but they say he's a lot better now. You should have seen him ten years ago. He'll yell at you for hours just for being late, and you know that high school for music and arts that he use to go to? They say that he quitted? He was actually fired, because his temper was so out of control. I guess it had something to do with his midlife crisis or something."  
" Really? I'm glad I got here only four years ago!"

Syaoran laughed. " Correction, you're glad you're only twelve. I'm glad I'm only twelve, although I'm not glad I'm a boy when it comes to his conducting class. For some reason Yoshihara's so biased-he's so easy on girls last year, never yelled at them once; but this year in my class there are no girls so I guess he laid all his easiness on...me."  
" That's the advantage of being young."  
" Hai, so true."   
" My brother is taking a long time."  
" So are my sisters. Do you suppose they met?"  
" I don't know. Don't care really."  
" Oh well."  
" So when's your concert?"  
" You mean the one next week?"  
" What else?"  
" Oh, ano...around five."  
" Where is it? I might want to come. My lesson ends at five."  
" Oh. It's in the sixth floor-room 506."  
" Oh, the...Yathnin Hall?"  
" Hai."  
" Why isn't anyone playing in the Yagami Hall anymore?"  
" I played there last month." Syaoran answered. " The day when they announced the winners of the competition? But didn't you hear? Sometime after that week, a rich guy named Motou bought the hall and decided to reconstruct it. It's going to be called Motou Hall now."  
" Nani? So it would be as if Yagami Hall has never been." Sakura swallowed and looked down. " I can't believe it."  
" Come. I'll show you." Syaoran put his bags down. " You take your violin, but you can leave that other bag down. You don't have any money in there, do you?"  
" Iie."  
" Alright then. Only a baka would steal those things. Come on." Syaoran led the girl to the elevators, and pressed the floor's button. He led her to the front of the hall and opened the door.

" Zzzzz! Zzzzz!" A drill sounded. Sakura peeked in and gasped. Instead of the nice, cream colored walls of the hall she knew and everyone else knew for at least fourteen years, there was a harsh white color that blazed her eyes, with pale brown floors covered with dust.  
" Oh!" She cried. She retreated out and Syaoran closed the door.  
" Hai." Syaoran nodded. " Pity, really." He smiled sadly. " This is our world, Sakura. There's no such thing as memory. It's all about money."

  
  
  
" Syaodi!" Syaoran's sister's scolded.  
" Kaijuu!" Touya scolded.  
" You left your books here!"  
" Well," Sakura blinked sheepishly, " It's not like anyone's going to steal it-"  
" You don't understand." Said Syaoran's oldest sister. " There are idiots in this school. Some idiot might have thought there was money and just took it. Other idiots might have thought these bookbags were theirs."

Syaoran and Sakura looked at each other.  
" Another example." Syaoran answered, and then they parted ways. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chamber Group

Chapter 5

" A-ti!" Syaoran sneezed. " Aiiya! Do you have a tissue, Eriol-san? Quickly quickly quickly!!!!"

Eriol hurriedly searched his bag and handed a couple of tissues to his friend.  
" You alright now?" He asked.  
Syaoran blew his nose into it and rubbed his ear.  
" Ow, I think I blew my eardrums out."  
" Don't worry about it."  
" It feels like...urgh."

Eriol patted Syaoran's arm sympathetically. Syaoran had been pretty much braindead the entire ride here, partly because of the antibiotics.  
" Come on. Let's get to the lobby. We're half an hour early."  
" Half an hour?" Syaoran groaned, although it sounded more like a sob because of his deranged voice.  
" You're lucky you didn't go to Julliard." Eriol muttered. " Now I understand why you didn't go even when you were accepted. Jesus Christ!" It was a comment Eriol often put amidst his Japanese. " Julliard was practically begging you to go there, giving you all kinds of scholarships and stuff. But now, you're pretty lucky, you know."  
" I probably should have gone to Moscow." Syaoran muttered. " Moscow had this music school that was-a-ti! Great. But I can speak Russian no better than I can speak English."

Eriol swallowed and began muttering to himself about how stubborn Syaoran always was.

Syaoran sat down with his friend and leaned into his shoulder, his eyes drooping to a close.

  
  
Yuri turned her head at Sakura and frowned. Sakura stopped, and when she stopped Yuri and Anzu stopped.  
" What's wrong?" Noyse asked, looking over. " Oh, Sakura, you skipped a measure. You don't have anything for two whole measures."  
" Oh." Sakura looked at her part. " Gomen."  
" From...one two three four-five from number Four." 

The trio looked at each other, and Sakura gave an upbeat with her bow. They started. Sakura blinked at her part, and this time Yuri didn't frown at her. They continued playing.

  
  
" Syaoran, Syaoran-san! You're going to miss your class! Syaoran!" Eriol hurriedly shook the boy. Syaoran opened his eyes.  
" Shenma?"

Eriol ignored the queer reply. " It's nine already! You're going to miss your class!"  
" Oh." Syaoran hurriedly grabbed his bags and stood up, but fell on top of Eriol, who barely maintained his own balance.  
" Syaoran-san! Are you alright?"  
" Olghm...garbage-garbage can...need, the, garbage can..."  
" Someone get the garbage can!" Eriol cried. " My friend is going to throw up!"

Parents and students rushed to get the closest garbage can, which was at the main office. The people at the front desk hurried over, and Yoshihara also rushed out and helped Syaoran maintain balance. Syaoran closed his eyes after the contents of his stomach was emptied, and he panted, gratefully drinking the cup of water. Water tasted sweet now.

" Are you alright?" Yoshihara asked. " Do you want to go home?"  
" Yao..." Syaoran answered.

Yoshihara ignored the comment, and a parent felt his forehead.  
" Aiya!" cried a Chinese. " He's hot! Fancy, a kid coming to school with a fever as high as a toaster!"  
" It was only a cold half an hour ago." Eriol sighed. He shook his head and went down the yellow marble hallway as Syaoran's mother took him home.

  
  
" Where's Syaoran-san?" Sakura asked Yamazaki and Eriol. Eriol shrugged.  
" Got sick. Didn't you hear?"  
" Hai, I heard." Tomoyo answered. " I heard he threw up this morning and they sent him home. Noyse-sensei told us about it, since he was there."  
" Really?" Sakura blinked. " What happened?"  
" Had a fever." Eriol answered.  
" Oh." Sakura bit her lip. The three sat down with their lunch.  
" Pizza?"  
" Ewww!" Yamazaki grimaced. " I tasted those before. He nodded when Sakura grimaced as she took a bite.  
" Yuck!" It was another English word that Eriol usually put in. " They taste like spoiled butter."  
" Wonder if chicken is the only one I can have."  
" Sakura, are you alright?"  
" Hai." Sakura sighed. Eriol and Tomoyo shared a knowing look.  
" I'm going to call him tonight to see how he's doing, and give him the homework." Eriol stated on purpose.  
" Really? Do you think I should too?" Sakura asked.  
" Well," Eriol did his best to hide the grin that threatened to show. " You can, it won't hurt. You're good friends, after all."

He gave her Syaoran's phone number and that made Sakura feel a lot better.

  
  
  
" Aaaah!"  
" What is it, Syaoran?" Li Yelan turned in the car and looked at her son sitting in the front seat.  
" I'm having a concert today Mama!"  
" I know. That was why I insisted you come here." Yelan sighed. " Too bad, but I'm sure Wakabayashi would understand."  
" I was going to play the Mozart." Syaoran pouted. " I practiced so hard this week. This is so unfair!"  
" Now now. Don't get your temperature too high by your temper, Syaoran." Li Yelan smiled sadly. " Don't be too disappointed. You'll get another chance two weeks from now."  
" Two weeks from now!" Syaoran cried.

  
  
" Oni-chan!" Sakura hurried up the stairs. " Did you see Nakuru-san?"  
" Nakuru?" Touya looked at his cello for a minute. " Hai. She went to room 334 to practice. Why?"  
" She has my ear training book!"  
" Then you better hurry up." Touya looked at his watch. " It's almost one."

Sakura pushed the door into the hall and veered around the hall to room 334.  
" Nakuru-san!" She opened the door.  
" Nani?" The red haired girl turned around. " Oh, konnichiwa, Sakura. I've been looking all over for you. Arigatou for lending me your ear training book!" She took out the heavy spiral book and handed it to Sakura. Sakura just nodded, glanced at her watch, and shouted,  
" HOEEE! I'm late!"  
" Then you better get going-" The older girl began, but the twelve-year-old was already gone.  
" Ah Sakura-san." She said, before going back to her flute.

  
  
" Oh hai, Syaoran's sick today, but since he did try to come I won't cut his score. He's been doing very well." Yoshihara nodded at Syaoran's record.

Liang blinked. " What happened?"   
" Didn't you hear?" Asked another boy, the tall lanky one that didn't know which instrument to play the other week. " Syaoran threw up in the lobby. He caught a fever. To think, he has a concert today!"

Liang scowled.  
" Say, where did the girl go?" The lanky boy asked.  
" Oh. You mean Rika? She's from the other class. She has no classes from one to two, so she came here to watch that orchestra perform Swan Lake last week. But you can't expect her to come every day!"

" Someone else is missing today." Yoshihara eyed the nine boys.  
" Eeto..." Liang looked around. " No one's missing, other than Syaoran..."  
" Alright, you're right. So, who's going to go up?"  
" Ano...Syaoran was supposed to go-"  
" Well, who's going to go after him? Liang, you go up."  
" But-"  
" No buts. You didn't conduct the second time so you have to go."

Liang scowled nervously and went to fetch his baton.  
" You guys in Pianoland!" Yoshihara eyed the two pianists on the Yamaha. " Give them an A!"

The boys tuned. There was an oboe player who was a girl, but she was not part of the class. There were two violins, a cellist, a violist, three present pianists, and two flutes.

" Alright, we're ready." Yoshihara stated.  
" I'm not." Liang whispered to himself. Then he took a breath, eyed everyone, and gave an upbeat.

  
  
At the same time Sakura was singing along with the rest of the class in ear training, which was by far the hardest class she ever had to go through. The whole point of that class was to sight sing the music at first sight, which was by no means simple. She suppressed a yawn as the teacher told them to sing the next one.

Afterwards, there was what she dreaded.  
" There's going to be a test next week." Said the sensei. " I want you to learn numbers 123 to 125, and be ready to sing for me. Oh, and also 131."

There was a series of groans, and the class scribbled on their books. Sakura looked at her pieces. Darn it!

  
  
Eriol looked at his glasses and wiped them off. _Good lesson, for once. _He thought as he lifted his cello into the elevator.  
" Konnichiwa, Eriol-san."  
" Oh, konnichiwa Yamazaki-san. You have a free period, right?"  
" Hai, for about forty-five minutes. I'm going to the library to borrow a book. Wakabayashi-san wants me to play the Fantasie-Impromptu by Chopin."  
" Oh! I do love that piece." Eriol hummed the melody to himself. " The right hand looks hard but it's actually very easy."  
" That's encouraging."  
" Make sure you get the B version and not the A version, because most people play the B."  
" Huh?" Yamazaki cocked an eyebrow. " What are you talking about?"  
" You'll see." The elevator stopped on the third floor and the two boys went out.

Oncethey went into the library, all was suddenly quiet.  
" Konnichiwa, Daidouji-san." Eriol whispered.  
" Hiriingaziwa-kun!" Tomoyo looked up. " I didn't know you have a free period. What are you here for?"  
" Yamazaki needs the score for Chopin."  
" Hmph." Tomoyo answered. " I need the violin sonata by Bach. Who's Chopin?"  
" Chopin is a pianist and a composer. He's also a genius."  
" Oh...is he Polish?"  
" Hai. You know him?"  
" A little. Sort of. Rika mentioned it once, but he doesn't write for any other instrument, hai? Kind of like Czerny?"  
" Guess not, if you never heard of him really."  
" Oh, alright. The Chopins are over there." The girl pointed.

Yamazaki and Eriol bent down.

" Why do they have to make shelves so low?" Yamazaki grumbled.  
" Shh!" Eriol whispered. " There are short kids, you know! You see that listening room over there? You need a ladder to get on top. At least when you're here you won't break your neck."  
" You won't break your neck there; you'll break the stereos." Yamazaki chuckled quietly.

  
  
" AAAAH!"  
" What is it?" Eriol asked.  
" How did it pop?" Tomoyo asked mournfully. " How did it pop? I have a lesson!"

Eriol looked over to see what had popped. It was one of Tomoyo's violin strings.  
" Eio." Was Eriol's queer response. " How did it pop?"  
" I don't know! I didn't touch it! When we came from the elevator I just opened it and it went whee!"  
" Must have been too tight from the start." Yamazaki offered. " Maybe your teacher would let you use hers?"  
" She has a five million dollar Italian one. Are you mad?"  
" Oh." Was the boys' response. They said nothing.

  
  
" So there was this little poem called the Violin, the Viola, and the Cello."  
" Hai, so how did it go?" Chiharu asked.  
And so Sakura began.

_" The girl walked in through the door,  
To come upon a music store,  
And on the shelf of wooden board,  
There was a violin and a bow._

Beside the violin was a bow,  
And beside the bow a viola stored,  
Some rosin and some other bow,  
That was made of horse hair.

Said the violin to the viola,  
" Fancy, a girl comes!  
Will she take me or you by gums?"  
And the viola answered,  
" Now that's enough!"

Now beside the viola was its bow,  
And beside the bow was the cello,  
Who's deepening voice frightened all but one,  
The girl who's listening ears heard none.

Said the viola to the cello,  
" Do shush your strings!  
The A tone of all things!  
Do you honestly think the girl,  
Will buy one so loud they rings?"  
And the cello, so booming low,  
Went squeaking on with its bow,  
Said " Now that's enough!  
Can't you see I'm tough,  
And out of us three,  
The girl will buy me!"

And the girl went to the counter where,  
The woman sat in her little chair,  
And the girl opened her lips to speak,  
The violin, viola, cello seek,  
And her clear voice, musical and sweet,  
Went bouncing of the walls they meet,  
And the girl questioned, " Where is  
The church?"

Noako and Chiharu giggled.  
" You memorized all that?"  
" Hoe! I thought it was so kawaii, what are you talking about?"

The two girls laughed. " It is kawaii!" They all agreed.   
" Oo, it's five fifteen. Where is my brother?" Sakura grimaced.  
" I have a concert." Chiharu sighed. " Better tune my flute."  
" I have to fix the horn." Noako sighed. " The valves went splintery. I'll see you next week, Sakura-chan!"  
" Ja ne!" Sakura waved, as her friend departed.  
" Wish me luck." Chiharu whispered.  
" Good luck." Sakura answered. Chiharu went to the elevator.  
" Kaijuu!" Touya appeared.  
_" _I'm not a monster!" Sakura shouted, stomping on her brother's feet. Touya yelped, nearly dropping his cello.  
" Hey, I just got the new cello case, alright?" Touya muttered. " For about one month."  
" Otou-san!" Sakura interrupted. And they got into the SUV.

  
  
" Moshi moshi?" A groggy voice answered the phone.  
" Konbonwa." Sakura said to the phone.  
" Sakura?"  
" Hai. I heard that something happened to you today, Syaoran-kun."  
" Oh, that."  
" Are you better now?"  
" Barely."  
" Oh...gomen nasai."  
" How did you get my phone number?"  
" Eriol-kun gave it to me."

There was a silence. Sakura blinked.  
" Oh."  
" We missed you at lunch today."

There was a hoarse chuckle.   
" Ai. Gomen. What did you have today?"  
" ...Pizza."  
" Ew!"  
" I know!"

The two laughed.  
" So are you going to be there next week?"  
" Of course I will. If I don't, Yoshihara's going to give me a D. And then I'm going to fail."  
" Aww, but he was there today when you threw up, so he probably wouldn't do anything."  
" I wish." There was a sigh.  
" So how goes the Swan Lake?"  
" A lot better today. Terada-sensei made us work on it all this morning, but we didn't work on your Prokofiev though."  
" Oh."  
" You're going to rehearse with us in three weeks."  
" Really?"  
" Hai."  
" Wow, that is so awesome." Then Sakura smiled as Syaoran went on. " I'm going to practice with a real live orchestra! That is so cool! Although that performance last week wasn't very encouraging-you guys were horrible, but this is so cool!"

Sakura giggled. " Hey, you won the competition."  
" I did it!" There was a series of coughs, and Syaoran laughed.  
" Well, I better let you rest now, otherwise you'll be coughing a lot more."  
" Un, well, I'll see you next week."  
" Ja."  
" Ja."

Click.


	6. Chapter 6

Chamber Group

Chapter 6

" Alright!!!" Syaoran leaped into the air, clutching that piece of paper that called itself his report card. " Straight A's! Straight A's! Ninety five average! Straight A's!" He ran to his sisters. " I got straight A's from the public school! Alright!"  
" Really? For all three terms?" Fuutie, his oldest sister, asked.  
" Duiya!" Syaoran answered in Chinese. " Yes! Yes! This means I can try out for that high school!"  
" Well, don't jump for joy yet." Shiefa answered, his other sister, putting down her bow and taking an envelope out. " Guess what came in today."  
" Took them long enough." Syaoran suddenly muttered, calming down instantly. " To think, the first semester at that stupid music school ended right after Christmas. They send this thing in the end of February. That's just stupid."  
" Oh well, you know how the mail goes." Shiefa opened the letter.  
" Did I get any B's? Any C's? Anything lower?" Syaoran asked, worried.  
" Yes." Shiefa nodded mournfully.  
" What? Really? Let me see that! It better not be from Wakabayashi!"  
" Sha haizi." Shiefa laughed. " Foolish child. You got straight A's."  
" Nani?! Even from Yoshihara? Let me see that!" Syaoran snatched the paper that called itself his music report card. " Even from Yoshihara! This is a miracle-although it's an A-, but still, THIS IS SO COOL!!!"

" Goodness, I've never seen him so excited before." Feimei said to Fuutie.  
" Well, for one, one report card determines four years of his future, and the other report card is...never mind. Maybe because he's high on sugar."  
" He is."

  
  
  
" Aw, I got a B minus in ear-training." Sakura looked at her report card mournfully.  
" I got a B in ear training, and theory." Touya grumbled a little. " Why did sensei give me an A-? I did well this year."  
" Which sensei?"  
" Cello."  
" Oh."  
" Ugh, I should have gotten an A."  
" A- isn't that bad."  
" It is!"  
" Well, maybe there was a typo or something."  
" I'd wish if that is possible."  
" Anything's possible, Oni-chan."  
" With you." Touya rubbed his sister's head. " Good heavens." He grumbled.  
" It looks so ugly." Sakura muttered mournfully. " That's the only B in all of my report card. Everything else has the letter A in it, be it minus, normal, or plus."  
" Don't be so disappointed." Fujitaka reassured her. " One B wouldn't affect anything."  
" But I wanted to get that scholarship fund that cuts sixty yen off my tuition." She said mournfully.  
" You tried." Fujitaka smiled. Sakura really does work hard.

  
  
" My laughter shall not be denied."

_Forget about your laughter!_ Eriol thought as he looked at his friend, holding his tummy to soothe the ache from his own laughter. _Don't deny mine!_

Syaoran shrugged. " What's wrong with laughing?"

Eriol couldn't answer him; his voice was already preoccupied.

" Ohayo Syaoran-san!" Yui called. " Are you better today?"  
" Hai. Arigatou." Syaoran nodded.  
" Come on." Yui offered. " Let's go upstairs." The trio went upstairs on the fine Saturday morning; it wasn't snowing since it was the first of March, and the sun was bright and...sunny.  
" How did you do last week?"  
" It was okay, but since Sensei didn't know how to play the piano the Beethoven trio sounded very...well, empty."  
" I can imagine." Syaoran nodded. Eriol stopped at the third floor and waved goodbye to his friends, before disappearing. Syaoran leaned back.  
" So, did you get your report card?"  
" Hai." Yui looked sad. " Got a B. For music theory."  
" Oh. What about Chamber?"  
" Chamber's easy. Got an A+. What about you?"  
" Oh, the usual." Syaoran didn't want to say he had straight A's.

Before Yui could ask what exactly was ' the usual', the door opened and the two had to go out.

  
  
" Ano...the pegs wouldn't stay," Sakura pushed as she tried to make it stay, but the string kept on pulling on it, forcing it to loosen.

Noyse took the violin and pressed the pegs in, plucking at the strings to make sure the pitch was right. Sakura sighed. _Lousy violin._  
" Is this yours? It looks different." Said the teacher.  
" Iie. Mine was at home. I didn't have time to restring it. This is my cousin's; she let me borrow it."  
" Oh, I see." Noyse didn't bother asking more.

All the while, the other two were busy practicing their parts as softly as they can, with the mute and with the soft pedal. Noyse handed her violin back-and the peg loosened again.

Sakura rolled her eyes. _Lousy violin._

  
  
" Alright, settle down." Terada sat in his ( famous) stool. " Let's take look at the Prokofiev today. We'll start from the beginning, hopefully you haven't forgotten anything."

He gave an upbeat. Suddenly, he cut off.  
" Let me hear you oboes."

Sakura leaned back, bored, listening to the same note over and over again as it was being tuned.  
" You're flat."  
" Let me hear both of you." Terada pointed. He grimaced, frowned. " Ahee...alright, I guess we'll deal. From measure 84!"

Sakura looked.  
" But..." She began, " Eighty four is when the piano plays..."  
" It is?" Terada looked. " I'm sorry. I meant ninety-four." He gave an upbeat.  
" Iie iie iie iie iie-let me hear you flutes." He pointed.  
" Flat."  
" Sharp."  
" You're flat."  
" You're still sharp."  
" Still sharp."  
" You're sharp."  
" Flat now."  
" Both flat."  
" Both sharp."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked at her part. Tomoyo leaned back.

  
  
" Alright, that's enough, I guess." Terada finally said. " Let's start from measure Ninety-four." He gave an upbeat. Finally, Sakura and the violins get to play a little, but unfortunately the particular movement ended.  
" Now, this is the Dance of the Swans. I want to hear you and you," Terada pointed to the flute and the oboe players.

Sakura frowned as something sounded wrong.  
" Don't play that way!" Terada scolded. " Have any of you seen the ballet before? Do you know what happens? The women come up to the stage in their little white tutus. They're swans, not elephants."

There was laughter from some parts of the orchestra.  
" I want the tonguing to be light." Terada even made a show of...showing them, as much as he could without spitting and without an instrument, anyway. " Not tleh tleh tleh. T' T' T'. Understand?"

The flutist and readjusted her flute and the duo played again, and this time Terada nodded in approval.  
" Much better. Now, let's begin!"

A miracle! This time they got through the whole movement without stopping!

  
  
" Yrch!!!"  
" Ow! What did you do that for?"  
" Gomen." The tall boy said behind his taller double bass. " I can't see where I'm going."

Syaoran rubbed his wounded funny-bone and frowned.  
" Why do they make such big instruments?"  
" Hey, remember the piano is even bigger." Eriol reminded him.  
" But you don't carry that thing around!"  
" Actually..." Said Yamazaki, " You do. How do you suppose the pianos got here in the first place?"

Syaoran glared at Yamazaki.

The guy supporting the harp suddenly let go, and the harp nearly crushed Yamazaki.

" Hey!"  
" Sorry." The guy apologized smugly. " The elevators make me nauseous."

(-_-)

Eriol and Syaoran cocked an eyebrow at the guy, who blushed and hurriedly freed Yamazaki from the dangerous harp.  
" Anything can be used as a weapon." Eriol commented. " For one thing," He said to the two guys. " Never, have a harp and a double bass be in the same elevator."

And that was the end of that.

  
  
" I want my precious!" Eriol muttered in Japanese. " Where's my precious?"  
" His precious is his lunch." Syaoran chuckled to Sakura. " This time, Eriol's the hungry wolf."  
" Where is my precious!!"  
" Your precious is over there." Syaoran laughed. " Now, you need at least eighteen yen if you want a good precious, Gollum, and to get it from Mrs. Baggins over there." He said, pointing to the cashier.

Eriol was the first to hurry off. Syaoran just laughed at his friend, shaking his head, and digging out his money and following, while Sakura and Tomoyo set down their backpacks.

  
  
" Mm! Good precious!"  
" Good gollum!" Syaoran laughed. Tomoyo giggled as Eriol wolfed down his lunch.  
" I have to study for my ear-training test." Sakura looked at the book. " I didn't study at all this week. Tomoyo-chan, help me!"  
" Steady, steady! Good heavens, Eriol-kaijuu, what's wrong with you today?"  
" My lesson is-bleh." Eriol sniffled. " And I am beginning to catch a cold and it's NOT FUNNY!!"

Of course, that didn't help, because Syaoran quickly reminded him,  
" My laughter shall not be denied!"

  
  
" One one-what's the next one? Six...five-six-five! Six! One one six four five two two...seven?" Sakura asked Chiharu.  
" Write it." Chiharu showed Sakura.  
  
Sakura hurriedly took a pencil and wrote the number of the tone under each note.  
" One one six four five two two one, two two seven six five-three two two, three three three four five six six seven, seven six five four three three three-seven?"  
" One, you baka!"  
" Oh, yeah, one."  
" You stink at this."  
" Hai, I certainly do." Sakura frowned. " I'm so not going next!"

  
  
" Syaoran?"  
" Hai, Eriol?"  
" I have a question?"  
" Hai?"  
" Why is the Beethoven Grand Sonata called ' Pathetic'?"  
" What's wrong with " Pathetic"?"  
" Well, for one, ' Pathetic' in English means...pathetic."  
" Well, for one, Eriol, for I see that your braindead like me last week, it's ' Pathetique'."  
" Oh. Right."  


  
" I have a Chamber concert in three weeks." Sakura muttered. She was practicing with Syaoran in the practice room.  
" What are you playing?" Syaoran asked.  
" Ghost trio."  
" Ghost trio? By Beethoven?" Syaoran looked for the keys. " Which was it? D?"  
" Hai."

Syaoran played a section and laughed. " I would love to go! Unfortunately I have Conducting, you know that."  
" Hai, not blaming you." Sakura looked at her piece. " Do you suppose Beethoven hates violinists?"

Syaoran looked at the music. " Whoa."  
" Hai, that's what I thought." Sakura nodded.  
" You should see Chopin with the piano pieces."  
" Who's Chopin?"  
" Oh, he's a pianist. He only writes piano pieces, I think, that's what Eriol told me, anyway. So of course you wouldn't know him."  
" Oh. Okay..."  
" He's Polish, if you want to know."  
" Polish."  
" Alright. I'll shut up now."

Sakura cocked an eyebrow.

Syaoran began playing in thirds with his right hand, and his left hand wandering over the keys.  
" Darn! This is so hard!" He muttered. " It's so not piano techique. It's for violins!"  
" What?" Sakura asked. " Shoot, you're right." She had an idea of what Syaoran's going through. " And two hands, too."

Syaoran practiced his right hand a bit. " Well, I guess if Wakabayashi wants to kill me, I might as well try to defend myself."

He started practicing, and soon Sakura was too, and everyone who went near the door to that practice room covered their ears and ran away. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chamber Group

Chapter 7

" Isn't that so kawaii?" Chiharu said to Yamazaki. " Syaoran and Sakura would make such a good pair! They've been hanging out more and more often ever since they first met!"  
" Hai." Yamazaki agreed. " Maybe we can even get them to kiss one another."  
" You'll have to need a lot of luck for that." Eriol answered, standing next to Tomoyo. " Syaoran ' ain't' the romance guy. He's all for academics."  
" Pity." Yamazaki agreed. " Syaoran would make a nice boyfriend. He's a nice guy, and very loyal, but he's very...well, picky, I guess."  
" So's Sakura, though." Tomoyo told Yamazaki and Eriol. " It's no wonder she's the concertmistress and the winner of the competition when she was eleven."  
" She won it when she's eleven?" Yamazaki blinked. " When's her birthday?"  
" In a month. On April first." Rika answered. " What about Syaoran?"  
" Oh, his is July thirteenth. Bad on Fridays." Eriol added, but none of the Japanese people knew what's so bad about it.  
" Huh?"  
" Never mind." 

  
  
" It is somehow strange how kids are always curious about other instruments." Syaoran commented as he fingered at Sakura's violin.  
" Just be careful. That violin is really expensive." Sakura warned.  
" Don't worry. I handled a violin before." Syaoran reassured her. He pressed the side of his face down.  
" Which string is this?" He asked.  
" That's the E string." Sakura answered.

The two were in a practice room, this time at eight o clock, partly because both of their siblings had an early lesson. Syaoran was slightly nervous because he was going to rehearse with Sakura and her orchestra. He would have practiced if Sakura wasn't there.

Sakura was fingering on the piano, which, to Syaoran's taste, was really bad, partly why whenever they played together everyone wished they were deaf. Another reason, of course, was because they were playing different pieces, and they made some interesting harmony along the way.

  
  
Syaoran bowed rather stiffly and almost made out ' Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', and Sakura pressed rather stiffly and almost made out " For Alice", but neither were good at either instrument and soon went back to the one their talent lies in.

  
  
There was a knock on the door and a head peered in.  
" Oh, gomen." Said the boy.  
" Yukito-san!" Sakura beamed. " You're here this early?"  
" Oh, I just finished my lesson." Yukito waved as he brought his bookbag in along with his violin and cello. " Oof, ohayo! My name is Tsukishiro Yukito."  
" My name is Li Syaoran." Syaoran turned around.  
" Oh! You're the kid that won the competition, eh? I didn't know you were so young. How old are you?"  
" Ano...twelve."  
" Oh?" Yukito blinked. " So you're the male Helen Wang, eh? The Chinese Mozart."  
" Oh, I'm not that good." Syaoran laughed, embarrassed.  
" He's one of those people who are too modest for their own good. He actually should be playing with the philharmonic orchestra."  
" Sakura!"

The green eyed girl giggled sweetly before setting her violin down to put rosin on her bow.

Yukito chuckled. " Can I leave these here? I have to go downstairs and come right back again, and then I'll look for a practice room. Carrying cellos is hard."  
" I can imagine." Syaoran scowled. He carried Eriol's cello once, from the first floor to the second. It was _bad._

The white haired boy left and Sakura giggled as Syaoran glared at her.  
" Hey, at least he forgot."  
" Hai, lucky for _you._" Syaoran changed his expression into a smiling one. " When do I go?"  
" Oh, at twelve. This time we're extending the rehearsal to two hours, so you can come at lunchtime."  
" I'll miss my lunch?" Syaoran laughed. " Oh boy. I usually don't eat that much, but normally I don't have time for breakfast. The whole day without food! Ah well, I guess I can use a diet."  
" You're not fat."  
" Ulhg." Was Syaoran's incomprehensible reply.

  
The two played a little more before Yukito appeared.  
" Arigatou!" He smiled, picking up his violin and taking his cello. " You two are big help!"  
" No problem!" Sakura called after him. Syaoran went on playing.

  
  
" Alright, alright, settle down." Terada tapped the stand with his baton. " I'm sure it wouldn't take you that long to tune your instruments. Ah, move the piano so that it faces-right, that's right, now you over there! Move to your right. I can't see the trumpets, and I'm sure they can't see me either. Timpani, are you ready? Beat it."

Dum dum.

" Elgh...the first one's a little flat, ah, it's not going to be right no matter how much you play-fine, that's right. Oh, hello, Li-san."  
" Gomen." Syaoran panted. " The elevator got stuck. I had to wait for the other one, but I'm here."  
" Hai, you're here!" Terada chuckled. Syaoran smiled as he set his books down and righted the height of the chair.  
" You ready?" Terada asked.

Syaoran gave a nod.

" Well, we are too-you two over there! Stop chattering! We're playing here. Alright," Terada looked at everyone, and everyone was at attention. Sakura held the bow up and waited with the conductor.

Terada gave an upbeat. They began to play. It was a strong piece, so it was rather loud. ' _forte', _the Italian word for ' loud', was the directions.

Syaoran began playing, and it was the first time Sakura ever heard him play a piece he knew well. The technique was wonderful, and there was a musical quality to it she couldn't really describe. Terada was still, his body stiff, and then he gave an upbeat.

No one played.

" Hey!" Terada cut off, as some of the latecomers started playing. " Mesmerized by the pianist, hai? We can't have that at the concert! This wouldn't be a piano concerto without the orchestra! You have to look at the conductor! I'm not that ugly!"

Syaoran chuckled. They had to start over again.

  
  
This time, the orchestra did play, and they actually got through a page, but the problem was the violas messed up, so they had to start over again. Syaoran relaxed. Playing with the orchestra isn't that hard. The orchestra is composed of, well...basically beginners.

" What do you see there? Dolce! It's supposed to sound sweet! Not forte!" Terada scolded. " What land are you in?"

Sakura winked at Syaoran, who's back was facing her but he had turned his head to wink at her.

The rest of the rehearsal passed rather smoothly, since more people were focused now. Syaoran played fantastically, and Sakura couldn't help but admire his relaxed posture and his musical sense. She started blushing. _Since when did he seem so perfect?_

After the rehearsal Syaoran waited in that same room, since it was the room the conducting class was. Sakura went over and praised him.  
" Ah, it was nothing." Syaoran shook his head, dismissing the entire rehearsal. " I messed up in some places."

Sakura blinked. Where did he mess up?

But Yoshihara came in, along with Liang and the others, and Sakura went out the door with Tomoyo.

  
  
" I don't want it to sound forced." Wakabayashi told Eriol. " I want it to sound gentle, but deep."

Eriol nodded, and looked at the second movement of the ' Pathetique'. He carefully placed his fingers on the keys. Then he pressed carefully.

Playing for a while, Wakabayashi stopped him and Eriol turned around to listen.  
" That's very good, but I don't want you to rush here. I want it to keep at a steady pace, and you have to work on the fingerings over here."

All throughout Eriol nodded, and after the hour was over he picked up his books and thanked his sensei, walking out to meet a very pale Syaoran.

  
  
" Are you alright?"  
" Iie."  
" What's wrong?"  
" Bad."  
" What's bad?"

Syaoran waited until they got into the elevator.  
" Did you start some kind of rumor, Eriol-kun?"  
" Rumor? Me?" Eriol blinked. " What rumor?"  
" Sakura and me."  
" Ano..." Too late.  
" Eriol!"  
" I was just joking! It must have been Yamazaki, that big mouthed gaki. I was just joking with Tomoyo and the others. I never expected them to actually believe it!"  
" Well, for some reason, there are about two hundred people who got the impression that the winner of the adolescent piano competition is in love with the concertmistress and the winner of last year's adolescent violin competition! Even if you were joking around, I am serious here. I don't love Kinomoto Sakura. She's a nice girl, but I don't have time for her. I come here once a week, so there is no time to get to know her better, and I certainly didn't pay fifty thousand yen to get a girlfriend in a music school!"  
" I know that!" Eriol sighed. " I'm sorry, alright? I mean, we both come from this really great elementary school when girls and boys just gag at the thought of boyfriends and girlfriends. I never expected them to take it seriously-I thought they were joking also. But you did seem to take great interest in Sakura."  
" I take great interest in you. I hang out with you. I come to this school with you. Does this make me gay?"

Eriol was silent when they left the elevator, solemnly following his dangerously quiet friend.

  
  
" So when the triad is on the third note of the scale, it is roman numeral three, and if it's minor, then the I's are lower case, and if it's major, then they are capital, and if it's augmented, capital with a plus sign."  
" What's this?" Yamazaki asked as he picked up the staff notebook and looked at a page of Syaoran's neat handwriting.  
" That's just a piece for composition." Syaoran explained. " Piano, mostly."  
" Oh, and this is from the person that just said he doesn't love that girl."  
" It's called " Sakura" for a different reason, Yamazaki-san."  
" And why? I know there's a folk song called Sakura but this sounds nothing like it." Eriol looked over.  
" Sounds rather like Sakura." Eriol commented, meaning the girl. " Very happy."  
" Arigatou!" Syaoran answered. I don't mind the very happy part, but you can drop the Sakura sounding part."  
" But it does sound like Sakura. All happy and perky." Yamazaki handed it over. " Sight sing it."

Syaoran looked at the piece and stared blankly at it.

" I'm going nuts." He muttered.

  
" Gee," Tomoyo blinked. " I thought you were interested in Yukito."  
" I am." Sakura blushed. " The problem is...I mean, it's just that...I never knew Syaoran could play so well, and he's so nice and all, you know?"

Tomoyo laughed. " Looks like you have a crush on someone!"  
" I don't like him! What are you talking about?"  
" So amusing when they always deny it." Rika laughed.  
" I'm not denying it. Seriously! Come on you all, you don't seriously think I like Syaoran, do you?"  
" Ano, do you really want us to answer that?" Chiharu asked.

Sakura groaned.  
" Come on. If you really do like Syaoran it's perfectly understandable. I mean, he's a cute guy and all, he's smart, he's nice, he has a good sense of humor, and you two make a great pair."

Sakura scowled. " I didn't come here to fall in love, you know. I came here to learn how to play the violin."  
" Well, you knew how to play the violin."  
" Fine! To play better!"  
" You're the best!"  
" Then I want to keep it that way." Sakura scowled even further. " And I'm not going to let Syaoran distract me."  
" You don't have to." Noako pointed out. " I mean, Syaoran's a nice guy. He is very devoted too, so you two probably should sign up for Chamber or something."  
" Chamber?" Sakura blinked in surprise.  
" Hai." Tomoyo agreed. " I mean, when the form comes about in April or something, you can ask Syaoran whether he wants to be your partner. And then we can have a quartet of some sort; we can have Syaoran, you, me, Eriol, and some violist. I heard Yamazaki's minor is viola, but he usually plays the viola in Chamber."

" Oh." Sakura blinked, surprised that she was actually pondering the idea.  



	8. Chapter 8

Chamber Group

Chapter 8

" Arigatou! So Noako isn't here today?" Terada flipped open the score and sat down on his famous stool. " You might want to move the piano a little to the left, Li-san, you mind helping him one of you cellos? Arigatou. Ano, let me hear your A...a little flat, push it in a bit. You? Flatter. Flat, sharp. Pull it out just a hair-now all of you..."

" Ano...Terada-sensei?" Syaoran began timidly. " The chair sort of...broke."  
" Nani?" Terada looked over. " Oh, I see. You can steal a chair from room 603. Can we have an A, oboe? I can't-arigatou. You're sharp."

Syaoran and one of the cellos brought the chair in and set it in front of the piano. He raised the chair so that it was high enough and sat down to test it. A distinct violin sounded, which was most likely Sakura's, but he must not think about her right now. He's missing his lunch for this rehearsal.

They got through most of the piece, until there was almost a duet between the orchestra and the piano-and that was when the orchestra fell apart.

  
  
  
" That was a total disaster." Sakura muttered as the two of them made their way down. Syaoran passed a test the other week and so those who didn't pass needed to take it over again ( the whole class, really,) and Sakura's teacher wasn't there so she didn't need to do anything.  
" Tell me about it." Syaoran answered.

Eriol and Tomoyo walked behind them.  
" That was a disaster." Tomoyo muttered.  
" Tell me about it." Eriol answered. " Syaoran was probably the only one that was keeping himself together. Did you see Terada? He was so mad at us."  
" I messed up on the second one." Tomoyo laughed nervously.  
" And Terada heard."  
" Un."  
" That's bad."  
" I know, but what can I do? I'm not Sakura."  
" You're the champion."  
" Oh please." The girl shook her head. " What nonsense!"

" Please!" Sakura giggled. " I'm just starting to learn Chinese. We've gone with one two three fours, and it's all in Mandarin."  
" I know Mandarin." Syaoran blinked. " That's why I'm laughing at you. You said it all wrong, but no matter-you'll get better."  
" I thought you were Cantonese."  
" If I only knew Cantonese, Sakura-san, I wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone. Ninety something percent of the Chinese population is Mandarin, baka." He chuckled. " I can't speak Mandarin very well, but I do know it. I thought I told you that already!"  
" Ano...you did?" Sakura blinked. Syaoran rolled his eyes.

" It's called Rococo."  
" Rococo?"  
" Hai. It's between the Baroque period and the Classical Period."  
" What a horrible name!" Sakura exclaimed. " Rococo! That sounds so...cocoish!"

Syaoran chuckled. " Rococo is when the Baroque people were experimenting with music. It probably turned out as a disaster, but that's the transition between the Baroque and the Classical Periods."  
" Rococo." Sakura muttered over and over again to herself. " Rococo. Rococo. Rococo."  
" Stop that!"  
" Gomen."  
" Now, all you-"

" So Syaoran wrote this piece. Isn't it so pretty?" Yamazaki laughed. " You see, Syaoran has a crush on Sakura, so he wrote this piece especially for her-"  
" Yamazaki-baka!" Syaoran exclaimed. " You better give that back. Pay no attention to him, Sakura. He's a total pain. Yamazaki!"

But the other boy was dancing away with the notebook, laughing at him. Syaoran sighed in annoyance and sat down. Yamazaki, having gotten bored with the game, returned the notebook to Syaoran. Unfortunately, Sakura was known for her curiosity.  
" Can I see it? I'm not good at sight-reading, but it must be a really good piece."

Well, what could Syaoran do?

  
  
" Guess WHAT!!"

Sakura and Syaoran cringed at Fuutie.  
" MEILING'S coming over!!!"

Again, Sakura cringed, but Syaoran gaped widely and protested.  
" Iie! Kami, she's going to ruin everything!"  
" Like what?" Eriol asked, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips.  
" Everything! My life! My room! My whole reputation!" Syaoran sighed.  
Shiefa was drinking soda in a rapid pace. She didn't like Meiling either. She was a troublesome cousin, always lousing about Syaoran and never leaving him alone. She felt pity for her brother.

Unfortunately, drinking soda has its side-effects.  
" Ano, what was that?" Eriol asked.  
" It was a burp." Fuutie answered pleasantly.  
" Ano..." Eriol began, " Bless you? Wait-that's not right. Excuse-wait, excuse you. Iie, that's rude, right?"  
" Hai." Syaoran answered flatly.  
" Forget it!"  
" Smart."

Eriol shot him a glare.

" I don't want her to come over! Can't she stay in Hong Kong?"  
" Who is Meiling?" Sakura asked.  
" A kaijuu." Syaoran answered. " Truly and literally. You'll see."  
" I don't think she's that bad." Sakura blinked.  
" You never met her, that's why." Shiefa answered. " She has this weird idea that Syaoran is her fiancé."  
" Talk about being weird." Eriol laughed. " But she is a great violinist, although she's a viola minor. If she comes over, you'll have a hard time, Sakura-san. Meiling is a very competitive individual; Syaoran would have fallen into her clutches if he hadn't chose the piano when he was five years old."  
" I never get how people could practice two instruments at once." Syaoran suddenly remarked, " And actually _practice_ them. I really do _not_ want to talk about the source of my nightmares. Can we please go to the library?"

  
  
Meiling came three weeks before the juries, which was a day when all students take a sort of ' audition' before three to five judges and are given a grade for the year besides their own teacher's grade. Students were required to play a romantic piece, a classical piece, and a twentieth century piece at least, and Syaoran had a lot of work to do.

" It's not fair!" He complained to Eriol and Sakura. " Wakabayashi-sensei wants me to have a _new piece_ ready in three weeks! And it's darn hard! Plus I have to rehearse with that concerto. And then," He decided to stop. It would be bad if he complained about Meiling _in front of Meiling._  
" That's not a problem." Meiling chirped, causing Syaoran to groan. " You can ready a piece in one week. Why brawl around with three?"

Syaoran mumbled something about not liking pressure and Sakura giggled. She was answered with a glare from Meiling.

Meiling sat at a vacant seat in the symphony orchestra since she was a visitor, and Sakura managed a whisper to Syaoran to ask why Meiling dissapproves of her so.

" It's simple." Syaoran answered. " I told her about you. I told her not to give you trouble. She somehow memorized the name-and found that composition piece I was working on and got jealous. What ever am I going to do with her? Speaking of which, I have a composition concert! Eek!"  
" Relax. We only have seven weeks left of school." Sakura whispered. " You have seven weeks to worry about Prokofiev."  
" No. I have five seconds and counting." Syaoran mumbled as Terada stepped on the podium.  
" Alright, settle down, we have a lot to cover today, because as you all know there are no classes on jury day. After that we only have three more meetings before the concert, so I want this Prokofiev ready. Can we have an A please?"

Meiling waited patiently for the orchestra to tune, but as it was a raining day, the strings took a long time.

" Don't you kids know how to tune?" Terada blinked.  
" It's the weather." Eriol called from the cello section. " My pegs won't stay."

Terada waited impatiently until everything was right again, and looked over at Syaoran. Syaoran nodded. Terada gave an upbeat with his baton, sat down on his famous stool, and they began.

  
  
" What a horrible rehearsal."  
" The pegs wouldn't stay."  
" The notes were like Biarrrrr."  
" Not our fault."  
" Meiling, please stop that." Syaoran said seriously. " I'm only hoping that during the concert the strings wouldn't do that. If they did it would be mighty ugly..."  
" Who cares? As long as you play it right."  
" Well, if I play it right and the orchestra plays it wrong, I _sound_ wrong."  
" That's how it works, anyways." Eriol agreed. Sakura adjusted her shoulder strap as they stopped at the third floor.  
" Alright, I'll see you guys later."  
" Ja!" The three of them called as Syaoran went out of the elevator. The door closed.

Syaoran entered the library and the first thing he did was heave a great sigh. One full week of Meiling was enough to tire anyone out. Of course, it was fun helping her practice her sonatas, but he didn't like her around him _all_ the time. Did she have to insist on coming to school with him?

After getting his Ravel Syaoran sight sang through it and nodded in approval. He liked the song. Looking at the title he frowned at the foreign characters.  
_" Pour Une Infante Defunte"_

Looking at the translation he gulped. The translation was " Of the Death of an Infanta." 


	9. Chapter 9

Chamber Group

Chapter 9

Sakura found Syaoran early in the morning at eight-o-clock in the same practice room playing on what seems to be the worst piano in the world. This time Syaoran managed to make it sound beautiful through some mysterious technique he picked up in the weeks they did not practice together.

Syaoran stopped as soon as she entered the room and smiled.  
" Ohayo." He called.  
" Ohayo." Sakura answered back. " Where's Eriol-kun?"  
" Oh. He went downstairs to get breakfast."  
" I see." Sakura answered.

  
  
" I can't believe this! I got a B from Yoshihara!" Yamazaki cried.  
" You're in Yoshihara's orchestra?" Eriol asked.  
" Iie."  
" So...how did you get a B from him?"  
" Oh. Yoshihara's my theory teacher."  
" Yoshihara teaches theory?"  
" Hai. Don't you know that?"  
" But wait, I know he teaches conducting, musical history and the orchestra-"  
" Iie! Not _that_ Yoshihara! This dumb school hired about four Yoshiharas. I'm talking about the other one."

Eriol paused. He swallowed thoughtfully.  
" Ano, _which_ other one?"  
" The little fat guy."  
" Yamazaki-san."  
" Hai?"  
" They're _all_ fat."  
" Oh, right. I'm talking about the short and fat guy."  
" They're all short."  
" Really? Oh, right. Ano, I'm talking about the guy that wears glasses, and always wears a tie for some reason-"  
" Yamazaki-san."  
" Hai?"  
" _They all wear glasses. And they all wear ties._"  
" Oh. Right. The bald one."  
" They're ALL BALD! Yamazaki!"  
" Fine! You know the guy that always eats lunch in the corner with the other tall and fat guy?"  
" That's the conducting Yoshihara, Yamazaki."  
" Oh. Oops. Ano...you're hopeless."  
" What does he look like?"  
" He's bald, short and fat, has a round face and a nasal voice."  
" Yamazaki, they're _all_ bald, short, fat, and they _all_ have a round face and a nasal voice. This isn't getting me anywhere."  
" The annoying guy!"  
" They're _all_ annoying!"

  
  
" How's the Swan Lake going?"  
" Pretty good." Sakura answered. " Byung finally got the trumpet part right. Everything else is normal."  
" I heard that they got rid of one piano up there." Syaoran answered. " Something wrong with it. What happened?"  
" One of the college students spilled soda on the songboard. That's what Yukito said."  
" Who would be stupid enough to do that?"  
" He was a drummer."  
" Oh, Sakura-san, that was mean." Sakura giggled. " Hey, it _was_ a drummer, whether the joke on them is justified or not."  
" It's not." Syaoran chuckled. " I know plenty of drummers who are very smart."  
" Well, that drummer wasn't. I wonder what they did with him."  
" Probably didn't do anything. First of all, he's a drummer, so he wouldn't know that the soundboard, and mind it's called a ' soundboard', not a songboard, is capable of rusting, and perhaps it was some unavoidable accident."  
" You really think."  
" I really do."  
" You are such a mean guy."  
" How's that mean?"  
" I mean, you make fun of drummers-"  
" Hey, it was you who brought that up."  
" Iie. I just mentioned he was a drummer. _You_ were the one that brought up the joke. And you make fun of violas-"  
" Iie, _you_ make fun of violas. You were the one that said they can't move their fingers the other day."  
" But it was _you_ who brought it up."  
" Iie, I was the one that said their part is simple. _You_ were the one that said it's because of their technical limitations."  
' Iie. I just said that usually composers don't write hard parts for violas because the violins got all the hard part."  
" Iie, I remember everything correctly. You said exactly this, " Violas usually don't get hard parts because they can't perform complicated technical fingerings." By the way, you totally didn't make sense."  
" What in the world are you talking about!" Sakura protested. " I'd swear your memory is impaired..."

  
  
" Ano, Eriol?"  
" Hai?"  
" Are the Yoshihara's from the same family?"  
" Yamazaki."  
" Seriously, are they? I mean, I can't think of anything else to tell you."  
" What color are his eyes?"  
" Brown."  
" Two Yoshihara's are brown eyed. And the other one's not the conductor. Yoshihara has grey eyes."  
" Ano...which Yoshihara?"  
" The one with the grey eyes."  
" And who is that?"  
" The conductor!"  
" There are two conductors! One's for the philharmonic, and the other is for the reportory."

Eriol threw up his hands. " Yamazaki-san, I give up. Don't tell me who it is. I'll find out for myself."

  
  
" What are you playing?" Sakura asked.  
" The Pavanne by Ravel." Syaoran answered. " Remember I told you that I had to get this ready in two weeks? I'm still messing up on this part."

He gritted his teeth and played that part really sloppily, but everything else was perfect. Sakura blinked at how fast he had learned the piece.  
" Dlgah." Syaoran groaned. Sakura giggled.

The door suddenly bursted open and Touya came in.  
" Ohayo Li-san. Ohayo kaijuu. Ow, the cello is cocky today." The tall boy set the cello down. " The breakfast is making me sick. Sakura, do you have any rosin?"

Blinking, Sakura handed her brother the rosin and watched as he put it on his bow. Syaoran had stopped playing.  
" You know, those two friends of yours are discussing about Yoshihara." Touya told Syaoran as he sat down to rest for a while.  
" Oh?" Syaoran blinked. " Which ones?"  
" The British guy and his smiling friend."  
" Oh." Sakura giggled. " Eriol and Yamazaki."  
" Why in the world are they talking about Yoshihara?"  
" Said something about there being four Yoshiharas, which is true."  
" There are four?" Syaoran blinked.  
" Hai. There's the theory teacher, the philharmonic conductor, which was your teacher, the kiddy orchestra conductor, and another one that's a flutist."  
" Oh dear." Syaoran knew those two well. " They'll be discussing it like crazy. Say, Kinomoto-san, have you seen Yukito? The other day he borrowed my pencil and disappeared. I forgot to bring another one so I have no writing utensil."

Sakura burst out laughing and Touya scowled.  
" Hai. And he does _not_ have your pencil. Here, I'll lend you one, but remember, _never lend Yukito anything for more than two minutes._ He never returns things, not because he doesn't want to but because he never remembers."

Syaoran laughed. " And I thought Yukito was a goody two shoes kind of guy."  
" Isn't that for girls?" Sakura asked.  
" I don't know. That's the only thing I can think of at the moment. Oh kami! It's nine! I have to go upstairs." Syaoran grabbed his stuff and went.  
" Oh, by the way!" Sakura called to him. " Did you get the Chamber music form yet?"  
" Hai! I wanted to ask you," Syaoran stopped. " Do you want to be partners?"  
" Of course!" Sakura nodded. " I'll write your name down!"  
" Same here! Ja!" Syaoran left.

  
  
Syaoran went out of his chamber class with Shigeru and went down the hall to where his next class was. Putting down his bags he sat next to a girl named Marie. She came from France but could speak Japanese decently, although Syaoran could hear a distinct accent.  
" Did we have any homework?" Syaoran asked.  
" We had to do all of exercise 10-9 and 11." Marie answered. She wanted to be called Minako, but that didn't work because the Japanese students, for some reason, liked the name Marie better because of the funny way it sounds. Of course, it ended up being " Malie."  
" I did it. Let me look for it."  
" Hai, right, Syaoran, winner of the competition. Sure you did the homework." Marie rolled her eyes.  
" I did it. Honest. See?" Syaoran showed it to her. " I just forgot which one it was because I did it during class and didn't bother with it."  
" You _what?_"  
" I did it during class. Remember? Sensei usually leaves the homework for last, but last week she put it on the board."

" Okay, whatever you say." Marie went back to her work.  
" Where is the sensei, by the way?" Shigeru asked.  
" Out. We're having a substitute." Marie answered.  
" In that case," Syaoran whispered to Shigeru, " Can you tell the sub I'm going to a concert? for me? I mean, I have to go, I had to go anyways, so just do me this favor this once. Onegai?"  
" Fine." Shigeru rolled his eyes. " But if it turns out to be someone you know, I won't say a word."  
" Deal." Syaoran hurried out. He didn't leave anytime too soon.

  
  
" Finally!" Syaoran sighed. " I got out of that class. It's a good thing they have Music Hour Concerts. Sweet sweet Music Hour! What piece was I supposed to play again?"

Pondering briefly, he suddenly remembered and went down to the second floor towards Takenouchi Hall. It was one of the worst halls in the school, other than the Motou Hall, and although the piano there was excellent the sounds were just terrible.

Even so, Syaoran would do anything to get out of that theory class. He wasn't going to go back there again.

  
  
" Who's up?" He asked a friend, whose name was Tasai.   
" Some guy named Ran. Weird guy. He looks like a nerd." Tasai answered.  
" He's a french horn player?" Syaoran blinked. " Uglh. This room can make a harp sound bad."  
" Tell me about it." Tasai answered. " Whoa, I'm next. Wish me luck."  
" What luck do you need?" Syaoran whispered back, surprised. " This is Music Hour, for heaven's sake!"  
" Still, I have a bad case of stagefright."  
" So do I."  
" Iie. You just go up there and play. I go up there and screw up."  
  
Syaoran laughed quietly as his friend took his flute up. Tasai was a good flutist. The only problem was that he sounded horrible because of the room.

Syaoran sighed. Acoustics are _very very_ important.

  
  
Tasai and Syaoran left the terrible room.  
" I sounded _so_ awful!" He cried.   
" It's the room. You were perfectly fine. How do you make such fast notes and not mush them together?"  
" It's technique."  
" You're good."  
" I was _bad_."  
" It's the _room_." Syaoran chuckled. " Hey, do you want to go downstairs to buy some chips from the snack machines?"  
" Take my advice. _Never _trust those snack machines. They ate my dollar and didn't give me anything more than once and I'm not falling for it again."  
" Well, they do sell candy, by ounces, without really giving us a scale which was stupid. We'll buy those."  
" Hai!"

  
  
Syaoran arrived in the room when the cellists and the violas were moving the piano. He dropped his bag on one of the audience seats and ran up to help.

The hall was the main hall of the entire school as well as the largest hall, fully equipped with broken lights and tattered floors. There were no windows and one of the microphones was starting to fall off. It was the grandest hall of the school as well as the scariest one because it was usually so dark, and usually silent save for Terada's battering and Yoshihara's scoldings, ( both of them) so the students often nicknamed it " The Haunted Hall".

Even so, Syaoran often felt it a great privilege to play in that hall, and he had greatly envied Eriol when he saw his friend playing proudly in front of the orchestra while he sat in the audience.

The stage was also decorated with the remains of gum and squished candy, despite the best efforts of the supervisors and the janitors. Although usually the singers, wind and brass players don't have gum or anything in their mouth save for teeth and tongues, that didn't really stop the string and drum players from finding something to chew on during the lesson. The stage was made of yellow painted wood and there were scratch marks on it from cymbals and drumsticks falling as well as cello endpoints and violin bows, and music stands being dragged over by the irresponsible students. Indeed, it was a wonderful stage to play on, with the light of the few lights that weren't broken shining right into Syaoran's eye whenever he played.

The acoustics were good; the walls were red with ridges so that the sound waves wouldn't echo too much. The audience seats were luxurious-with red velvets; some stiff because of soda that was spilled on them, some torn up by toddlers. There was a second floor above the leveled one and most people were too scared to go up there because it was so tall. Most of the seats therefore, are bright red and the velvet was mostly new. Although one was burnt-one of the lights fell and started a brief fire several months ago during a weekday and they had to evacuate the school until they realized the fire was about an inch tall when they finished.

None of the students really minded the decorations because they did not come to this school or the stage to admire the hall's looks. They came here to make music, to perform and please the audience the best they may, and the audience came here to please themselves and try to babble how good their children were. Most people avoided stiff velvets, though, because those things were never to be made right again.

The piano was brand new and was a D sized Steinway, directly imported from Germany since the New York one was too expensive. Syaoran liked the D sized Steinway pianos because they were first of all, the longest ( more than nine feet in length), and therefore the loudest, ( which was why most pianists have a B sized at most, which was only six feet in length.) and the lower notes of the piano were the deepest of all the other sized pianos. But Syaoran mostly liked the piano because it was a Steinway, and most of Steinway's pianos are much better the the old tattered Yamahas they had here.

  
  
After lifting the cover of the piano Syaoran sat down to adjust the chair while the violas and the cellos went back to their seats with their masters. Syaoran warmed up by playing through the piece briefly at a rapid pace while the conductor, having broken his baton, grumbled about while borrowing one from a Yoshihara.  
" And to think, that baton costed me seventy yen." Terada grumbled. Syaoran looked at the audience. There were several people watching. Blinking at a sudden whim he waved at them.

The audience, not sure what to do, timidly waved back.

The cellos must have thought the waving was for them, because they waved.

So did the violas.

Presently everyone was waving.

  
  
The rehearsal was a disaster. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chamber Group

Chapter 10

" NANI???!!!"

Syaoran looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. " Since when?"  
" Since the guy who was _supposed_ to play told the school that he'll be moving to America on the last week. So you are the boss of this year, Syaoran."  
" Iiiiiiiiieeeeee!" Syaoran wailed.

Eriol didn't like it either. Normally, the winner of the fifteen-year-olds and under go the week before the last week, and the last week is saved for the best-the philharmonic orchestra and the sixteen to seventeen-year-olds, with their usually difficult concerto. This year, however, the winner of the piano concerto competition was moving to America to attend the Julliard School of Music on the very last week, so Syaoran was to play on the last week.

Which means he gets the spotlight.

Which means he is in _big_ trouble.

And no one knows it more than Syaoran, who was wailing out his distress to his sisters and mother, who comforted him the best they could. What more could they do? Syaoran got himself into this. He won the competition. If he didn't win the competition and gave it to Rika, well, he definetely wouldn't have to worry about concerts!

The problem was, Syaoran was one of those proud people that bite off more than they think they can chew, but they bite it anyway. Syaoran wasn't going to back off.

Eriol briefly remembered the experience last year. He had walked out between the rows of violas and violins, trying his best not to get poked with their dangerous bows. He was awed by the audience ( actually, he was awed _before_ coming on the stage. He had even vomited for five minutes before appearing to prove it.) That time Eriol was so nervous he could barely bow, and when he sat down in the chair he thought he would faint. Then he sighed, trying not to let the audience see ( they get really discouraged when they see you're discouraged) and then nodded to Terada.

The good thing about the concerto was that there was a nice introduction, as most concertos are, and this one was quite long. Eriol remembered reaching into the piece and began concentrating on what _he _was doing, not on what the audience was doing. That usually works. It pushes the nervousness away.

After what seemed like a short time, Eriol finished and got up. He could barely bow, and when he did, he nearly fell over. He remembered shaking hands with Terada and his hands were trembling and sweaty. Fortunately, Terada's hands were too ( he could not imagine why-all the guy was doing was waving his arms and holding a baton that was almost broken) and after a shaking of sweaty hands he shook hands with the concertmistress, whose hands were also sweaty ( he didn't know what was wrong, maybe it was because it was in May and nearly June. May wasn't supposed to be that hot, right?) and then he went down and the orchestra began tuning and practicing again. Terada followed him down and congratulated him and all Eriol was able to manage was a  
" Huh."

Now that it was Syaoran's turn Eriol wasn't too happy. He didn't want Syaoran to vomit, first of all, because Syaoran was physically weaker than he was. Also, he didn't want to think of the sweaty hands ( even for boys, sweaty hands could be quite disgusting) but come to think of it pianists usually do have sweaty hands. Some have cold _and_ sweaty hands, which was even worse because besides your fingers slipping on the keys, you can't move them either. Then he thought about another situation. Uncontrollable hands. That was when you can't control your fingers and they run all over the place. There was another one, sudden memory loss. You suddenly forget the next note, try to guess, guess wrong, and your finger follows your guess when it shouldn't.

With all these possibilities, how is Syaoran going to survive?  
" I'm going to die!" Syaoran cried to him.  
" Oh, iie." Eriol said quickly. " You'll be fine. Remember me? If I can do it, you can too."

He didn't mention that he _barely_ made it.

  
  
Sakura could relate. Although Tomoyo's concert was a long way off, and Syaoran was a pianist, she could understand the pressure. She, like Eriol, had decided to spit out the contents of her stomach five minutes before her appearance. Of course, that dragged on to ten minutes, because she needed to revive. Then she went on stage, bowed, and stood there facing the audience.

The disadvantage of a violinist, is that you actually can't focus on anything other than the people in the dark. She was so happy that they decided to turn off the lights. She decided that it was because that way you can't count how many people there are. Unfortunately though, that often leads to thinking there are more people than there actually was, which was worse. In this case, she decided to focus on having less people. Namingly none.

A pianist gets to stare at the keys. Or the insides of the piano. The violinist gets to stare at the strings. That often doesn't work because you still see the audience. In her case, Sakura was staring at her strings. That didn't work, of course, so she got the " uncontrolled fingers syndrome". Luckily, her fingers ran, but in one direction. Her bowing was sloppy but she managed to fool the audience. Music has its special way of cheating, because no one understands about it so they just assume you're right.

So now Sakura heard that Syaoran was taking the place of the sixteen year old. She deeply sympathized. Syaoran was new at this. How is he going to get through?  
" Wish me luck."  
" You don't need luck."

She didn't mention that everyone needs luck.

  
  
Sakura looked at her papers carefully. All A's. Each and every one of the three juries gave her A's. She remembered one time when she only had two judges. The third one went down for lunch and forgot to come up again. It was a stupid grade. She got an A. But that hardly meant anything because there were only two judges.

Syaoran had A's. Eriol had A's. Tomoyo had A's. Rika had A's. Yamazaki had a B, Chiharu had a B and a B+, Noako had an A- and a B. In actuality, it was fairly easy to get A's.

It just demends who you had for a judge.

So now all that's left is the concert.

Oh boy.

  
  
The next Saturday, the last Saturday of the whole year, Sakura went to school as normal and went through her classes. She got her grades, had candy and donuts, and then went through her private lesson, where she received six new pieces to work over the summer. Everything was nice.

Now comes the concert.

There was a lot of commotion. First, the announcements of the seniors and what school they were going to, along with their quotes. The four choruses performed-the junior, youth, women and senior chorus. Of course, that came a _long _time after; there were many who were graduating. 

Finally, comes the concert. Sakura, Eriol, Yamazaki, Tomoyo, and Meiling sat together, with Meiling giving her best glares towards Sakura, who sat far away from her. Three men picked up chairs and brought them upstage, which was cleaner by now and the lights were fixed. They placed the stands onstage, adjusted the piano and took off the risers. Gradually several youngsters appeared and sat in the seats. As if on cue they began playing some weird nonsense. Scales, arpeggios, chords, triads, parts of the piece they were playing. More students came in, some draggin in basses, others trying to adjust the drums the best they could. It was remarkable how loud these little ones could play.

It was quite a while before Eriol went upstage, followed by Tomoyo. Sakura didn't notice what happened to Yamazaki because she was talking with Touya.

" Hai, I'm nervous for him." She said.  
" How odd." Touya answered. " Eriol was nervous too. Syaoran was basically freaking out but let's hope he'll be alright."

With that, Terada nodded to her and Sakura went onstage.

Going up to the stage to bow and play the " A" key on the piano was not something worth going to the mental hospital for. She knew where the A key was anyway. Normally the oboe would be the one to set the tunes but since the piano takes hours to tune, they just follow the piano. Three times, first the woodwinds, than the brass, then the strings. It took some time for the strings; they needed to tune four while the blowers only needed to adjust one handle.

Sakura finally sat down and waited. As was the custom, as soon as Syaoran appeared with Terada, the orchestra students began to stamp their feet as an applause, since their hands were occupied.

Syaoran bowed and looked unbelievably pale. From the other side Sakura saw Eriol bite his lip in worry. Syaoran sat down and adjusted the chair. He sighed and..._smiled?_ Then he nodded to the conductor.

The performance was _perfect_. In fact, if that wasn't perfect, Sakura didn't know what is. Syaoran was confident. The orchestra was excited and into the music. The audience applauded beautifully.

She guessed that they didn't really care about Swan Lake after that performance. Nor did they care about the philharmonic orchestra. Because quite frankly, everyone was rushing up to Syaoran during the reception where they were having cheese and cookies. Syaoran didn't faint. Syaoran didn't throw up. Geez, what happened to him?

But it's hard not to understand why. Especially since he's perfect now.

  
  
They were going to leave each other. Sakura and the gang gathered together to say goodbye. Meiling still didn't like Sakura but she was there anyway.  
" We're going to try to form a quintet." Eriol told them. " Syaoran, Sakura Tomoyo, me, and possibly Meiling if she gets in. We wrote her name down anyway."  
" Oh dear." Syaoran groaned. " Promise me you'll behave, Meiling."  
" Of course." Meiling chirped.

Sakura blinked. Why did she have a feeling that it will be a very interesting year that followed this one? 


	11. Chapter 11

Chamber Group

Chapter 11

The first day of school was a total mess for Sakura, one reason because her classes got warped. She wouldn't have minded if her theory class was junior theory I ( She took that the first year she came) or if her ear training class was ear-training II ( She took that the third year) and if she had the wrong teacher for her private lesson. ( She had stuck with Mizuki Kaho, but the director decided to change it into Katsuya Hitomi?)

She got to school about an hour early because her first class was at eight, which happened to not exist at all. She had to go to the office to find out what class she really was in, which happened to be at two, and that makes her first class start at nine. She really was not too happy about practicing in the morning because she had the worst week of her life.

She was actually in junior high school for one year already, so Sakura figured that she should be use to it. She was not. So what happened was that she came to music school tired and sleepy. Only to waste one hour of her sleep.

Of course, she can't go to sleep _now!_ It's not her. First of all, she didn't have enough time, second, she can't fall asleep anyway if she woke up in the morning. It was a really sad situation. It was a terrific situation. So she tried to pass time eating breakfast, and being the person that she is ( she normally wakes up late so she has only two minutes to eat,) she finished breakfast ( in two minutes) and was left to wander about the school admiring the dirty pianos.

Finally she gave up and went practicing.

At nine her first class began ( With Katsuya Hitomi) and was greatly surprised. She explained to Katsuya that there was a mistake and Hitomi was greatly pleased. ( It turned out one of her best students was traded to Mizuki.) So forget about the lesson; she had another hour of wasting time.

At ten-o-clock she had chorus, ( it was normally at ten thirty but it was early this year) and the chorus teacher, Yamaha Zoe, ( She was the descendant of whoever made the piano company and the motorcycle company) was absent that week. She had an hour of boredom because the subsitute can't read music and can't sing either. At eleven, she went to ear-training class, which was the wrong class, of course, so she had the teacher fill out a form and went downstairs to the office for the third time, and then had forty minutes of wasting time. The rest of the ten minutes was used to get to class on time, which was Conducting ( she applied at Syaoran's suggestion).

Needless to say, Yoshihara was mighty upset at suddenly having so many underaged students in one year- ( Yamazaki and Eriol took it into their heads to apply as well) and he was not especially cross but not very happy either. The three thirteen year olds, however, couldn't care less. There were about eleven people in that class, all ranging from fourteen to seventeen, and they were the only ones that were thirteen, and were also the shortest ( except for a guy with a weird name Miko, who also had a weird appearance-that of a nine year old when he's sixteen) So Yamazaki, Eriol, and Sakura took time to keep each other company and to soothe each other when someone gets really freaked out at so many of the older kids.

Conducting was actually the only class that worked right because at one there was orchestra, and there they really didn't get to do anything because in the middle, Terada was called out for a meeting, much to his frustration, ( especially since he never knew there was a meeting in the first place) and the other half was spent more on taking attendance and scolding the latecomers.

At three Sakura went to Music History and Yoshihara wasn't there because he was out for a concert. So Sakura had to louse about with a subsitute that knows absolutely nothing about the Baroque Period. At four, she had theory, and that was bad because it was the wrong one, so she spent an hour doing nothing once again. At five, she went to chamber. This time the teacher was there, but the students weren't. Eriol had gone to the doctor, Tomoyo was absent that day, Meiling was sick, and Syaoran's schedule had his chamber class and his private lesson at the same time, so naturally he went to his private lesson.

  
  
The only thing Sakura could do was blame it all on the director, who was rather new at this and couldn't schedule right. She was rather new anyway so Sakura couldn't really throw things at her ( not that she usually does that, anyway.) But she was extremely unhappy had spending ten hours doing nothing. No one can blame her-she had the most uneventful day of all the others, except for Syaoran, of course.

  
  
First of all, the director thought Syaoran wasn't even a student at this school which was rather idiotic considering he won a competition the other year. So Syaoran's lesson at first was placed on a Sunday, which was changed about a week before the first day of school into the latest time possible-at five.

The next thing was that Syaoran's conducting class, which was at one, corresponded with his music history class ( which meant that both he _and_ Yoshihara were very confused.) Naturally he sought out his teacher before going anywhere and both of them were late for class.

Which was perfectly fine with Syaoran as long as he doesn't get an F.

His composition class never existed and will never exist as long as the director remains director, so for a long time Syaoran didn't know where to go. He had absolutely no free periods on his schedule and he didn't know what happened. Of course, after consulting with the office for the fifth time that day he finally found out that the composition class was during his theory class, and he had to be moved out.

Well, the day didn't go extremely well.

Even worse, many students didn't receive the calender, so about ninety percent of the student population thought that school begins next Saturday.

The teachers were unhappy, the students were unhappy, and quite frankly, the cafeteria chefs were very unhappy because no one came down to lunch and they didn't have to come to work that day in the first place.

  
  
The next week everything popped back into place. Almost everything. Syaoran still has no schedule and Sakura still has no ID. As for Tomoyo, she was getting paranoid about the upcoming concert in December and Meiling was getting increasingly jealous of Sakura. Eriol was basically watching the group with an amused smile on his face, getting on Syaoran's nerves and making him exasperated.

" We learned where the word ' crap' came from." Eriol suddenly said.

Of course, Syaoran had no idea where that came from and thus cocked an eyebrow at him.  
" The english word? Isn't that a curse?"  
" Hai, but it was at first a name."

Syaoran was drawing ten thousand question marks in his head. _Why did he bring that topic up?_  
" There was a British guy name Ted Crapper." Eriol began. " Or was it Tom Crapper? Anyways, it began with a T. He sells toilets." Syaoran snorted. " One time several Americans went to visit England, and they used the bathroom, of course, and on the toilets were the words " T. Crapper". The Americans thought it said " The Crapper". Naturally, they thought that the toilets were called crappers."  
" You know, that's not funny." Syaoran began, " Especially since my English is very poor."  
" Whatever." Eriol gave up. " You're hopeless."

Syaoran was drawing ten thousand question marks in his head.

  
  
( That story is true, by the way.)

" Actually," Syaoran began, " I am hopeful, but Eriol's acting really weird today, so whatever you do don't mind him."  
" Who wouldn't." Chiharu sniffed. " With the new director, everything was a mess. I got placed in a chorus filled with five-year-olds. I signed up for the Women's chorus."  
" Why chorus?" Syaoran asked. " It's so boring."  
" That's because you're the only one that can sing." Yamazaki pointed out. Syaoran rolled his eyes.  
" He doesn't sing much anyway." Eriol kicked at his leg. " Lousy gaki, I'll hand it."  
" Eww!" Syaoran spat out the chicken. " Thing has some weird stuff on it. Lech! Tastes like ameba!"  
" You know what ameba tastes like?" Yamazaki cocked an eyebrow.  
" Sort of. Don't taste it. You'll get brain damage or something." Syaoran drank water to clear the taste. " Yrch!"  
" Is it that bad?" Eriol asked.  
" Hai!"

Sakura thumped down the stairs with her bookbag and basically threw it over the chair before sitting down and grabbing one of Syaoran's chicken.  
" Eww!" She spat it into the garbage. " Tastes disgusting!"  
" Someone's in a good mood today." Syaoran bit into the bread.  
" I-went-up-to-the sixth floor...by stairs-from the-main-floor," Sakura panted, " And then-I-found-out-it was-the-wrong-room. I went-down-to-the-third-floor-to-find-it was on-the-fourth. I went up to the fourth-floor...and found out that the teacher had just moved it to the fifth. I went up to-the-fifth-floor to find-theteacherabsent!"  
" Talk about bad luck." Syaoran moved aside so Sakura could sit. " What a lousy teacher you got. What was the class for?"  
" Ear training." Sakura sat down. " We were supposed to have a test next week."  
" Already?"  
" It's just a quiz, actually."  
" Oh, to see what level you're on?"  
" Hai."

Tomoyo suddenly dropped her bookbag and sat down.  
" Lord of the Rings." She muttered.  
" Hoe?" Sakura blinked.  
" It's amazing." Tomoyo rolled her eyes. " I read that book, or books. I really liked it...although it might be better in English but Japanese is easier for me. I was at music history class. There's this girl, who knows a guy, that taught his baby _Quenyan._ I have no idea if it's true or not, but it's truly absurd. I mean, that book is good and all, but there's no reason to be crazy about it. Those kids in that class practically want to _live in the book._ They think the guy who wrote that book-was that Tolkien? Was practically a god. It's scary."  
" I know." Syaoran drank his soda. " I read that book in English. Couldn't understand half of the words in there, but I got the idea. It's a good story. But there are some kids who are just way over their heads with that book."  
" If you think kids now are crazy," Eriol said dully, " Try thinking of it around fifty years ago when the book was first published. Was it forty or fifty? I forget. In any case, I think the only reason the book suddenly became popular was because they're making movies of the trilogy."  
" Movie is good." Syaoran nodded. " They messed up the tree guy though. Is he called an Ent?"  
" You should remember the names, you know."  
" I can't. There are too many. Let's see, we have the hobbits, of course. Dwarves, Elves, Men, and what? Ents, is that it? And then we have Rohan...Gondor and Mordor, and...mukwood."  
" Mirkwood."  
" Oh. Right. And what was the other forest? Lo...Lororien."  
" Lorien. Or Lothlorien. Depending on which one you're using."  
" How do you manage to memorize all of these?"  
" For one thing," Eriol said proudly, " I just bought the DVD's from England over the summer."  
" Alright."  
" It's terrible, I thought the movies." Tomoyo began. " They added the Japanese voices instead of subscripts, so you have Frodo sounding like a guy from Peking Opera or something like that. And the mouth movements don't match the words."  
" Of course. It's in English."  
" Hai, but I don't like it. It doesn't feel right. So if the movie's that terrible...of course, it's only because of the translations, why are people so crazy about it?"  
" Elves, Dwarves and Men. Oh my! What do you think, Tomoyo?" Syaoran chuckled. " Either people have no life, or Tolkien's just too good."  
" Tolkien _is_ a professor at Oxford, you know." Eriol looked at Syaoran.  
" He _did_ study Anglo Saxxon history, Viking history, took the themes from Beowulf, all those things, yadda yadda yadda. I'll take that."  
" Quite frankly, worshipping the guy is a little too much." Tomoyo pointed out. " I mean, some people are like, ' _You DARE disgrace Tolkien!!!!'"  
_  
Syaoran choked on his soda and Sakura giggled uncontrollably.  
" Forgive us." Sakura said to Eriol. " We only read the translation of the classic. But really-"  
" Disgrace Tolkien? How's that possible? You can only disgrace yourself. The poor guy's dead. He no longer gives a thing for us little mortals and whatever we do. Imagine the ghost of Tolkien looming about the earth, watching the poor idiots sacrifice part of their brains and devotion to something he made simply by typing on his typewriter." Syaoran finished his soda.  
" That's kind of what you said about Swan Lake..." Sakura grimaced.  
" This is worse. You don't find people spending their lives in white tutus and acting like swans all the time, do you?"  
" True."  
" So that thing with the Quenyan is really ridiculous. I don't remember Tolkien writing anything in Quenya except for several random words in the Lord of the Rings..."  
" I don't know. They probably made some up. Or maybe it was in the Simarilia, or whatever that book is." Tomoyo answered.  
" Scary."  
" Oh yeah."  
" There are some weird people in the world..."

Eriol was shaking his head. _Those guys._ He thought. _They don't understand. They only read the translation._ _They never read the actual thing. I feel so sorry for them._

  
  
" The oboe has to play over all forty of you over here. You have to play softly." Terada instructed the violins and violas. " You over there! Are you done with your yapping?"

Sakura muttered something under her breath. Today was the first audition for the seating arrangement in the Symphony Orchestra. The bad thing was Yoshihara was doing it this year and she had a bad feeling about it.

Eriol sat in the front line and looked at his music, humming the rest of the piece quietly.  
" Weird. Is that a double sharp?" Sakura suddenly looked at the blurred symbol on her part.  
" Iie, I doubt it. They rarely use double sharps." Tomoyo said beside her.  
" Alright, everyone, measure fifty nine." Terada tapped his baton.

  
  
" I want it forced here." Wakabayashi marked the note on Syaoran's music. " Lean into your fingers."

The teacher displayed what was wanted and Syaoran watched at attention. Meanwhile, Eriol was outside with Tomoyo.

" He's late! Again!" Eriol grumbled. " Wakabayashi always gives a longer lesson for Syaoran."  
" Don't complain. At least you get a longer lesson too."  
" I am so complaining." Eriol grumbled. " We're going to be late for chamber!"  
" Relax. It's on this floor. He's only five minutes late.

Syaoran thanked his sensei before putting on his bookbag and opening the door, wishing Wakabayashi a good week. He started at the sight of Eriol and Tomoyo.

" We're here to make sure your schedule is right." Eriol joked.  
" Oh, don't worry about that." Syaoran laughed. " Where's Meiling?"  
" Downstairs getting Sakura."  
" Bad idea, Eriol."  
" Whatever!"

The thirteen year olds strolled down the hall to meet their teacher and went in, and after a few minutes the teacher came in, although right after Sakura and Meiling did.

Luckily, the girls did not seem to bother each other too much. Syaoran gave an internal sigh of relief.

" How's the piano?" He asked Sakura.  
" How am I supposed to know? I was released." She blinked. Syaoran shrugged and felt the keys.  
" Ew. Too much dust." He muttered. Brushing at the keys he began pressing the A key, and then decided to annoy Sakura-the first violinist.

He began playing staccato, then playing the key an octave lower, until Sakura threatened to throw the bow at him. Finally he stopped and did the normal thing. For the others he was cooperative, even for Meiling on her viola.

The team was ready.

" Now, I have this piece in mind," Said Nakoti, the teacher. She handed out the copies and gave Syaoran the score. " Do you think you can sight read it?"  
" Ano, sure." Eriol said uncertainly, looking at Syaoran.  
" I'll try." Syaoran muttered, as he looked at the Schumann. All looked at Sakura, who was going to give the upbeat.  
" How fast?" She asked.

So Nakoti counted. " One, two, three, one two-"

And they began.

  
  
_Sakura's gotten better._ Syaoran thought. _  
This piece is pretty hard._ Eriol thought. _  
That brat!_ Meiling thought to herself._  
Eriol looks so cool on the cello._ Tomoyo thought.  
_Did she get a new violin?_ Syaoran turned the page.  
_Syaoran needs a page turner. _Sakura thought._  
Tomoyo looks nice today._ Eriol thought for the fifth time that day.  
_I need more rosin._ Tomoyo grimaced.  
_Why is she looking at him? _Meiling glared.  
_We're falling apart._ Syaoran thought.

And they were. The teacher gave a cut off sign and clapped.  
" That's very good for today." She said.

Syaoran looked at the piece and fingered them lightly on the piano.

_Wow, he didn't even make one mistake so far,_ Sakura blushed.  
_Why is she blushing?_ Meiling fumed.  
_The pegs are turning._ Eriol frowned.  
_Why is my violin so squeaky today? Oh shoot, I put too much rosin this time!_ Tomoyo sighed.  
_How am I supposed to sightread that?_ Syaoran groaned inwardly.  
_What time is it?_ Meiling looked around for a clock.  
_I want to go home._ Eriol bit his lip. _My eyes are tired.  
Eriol is having trouble with his pegs._ Tomoyo thought.

" Let's start again. Remember the accents." Nakoti counted. " One, two, three, one two-"

  
  
" I can't believe you fell asleep while playing." Sakura gaped at Syaoran outside in the hall. " How is that possible?"  
" Ano..." Syaoran blushed.  
" Don't worry." Eriol teased. " Syao-chan does that all the time."  
" Syao-chan?" Tomoyo blinked.  
" Oh no." Syaoran answered.  
" But seriously, I have never heard of a time when someone falls asleep while playing the piano! Seriously!" Sakura cried.  
" Hey! You're getting too close!" Meiling suddenly hung on to Syaoran, who turned from blushing to sighing.  
" Doesn't he get in trouble for that?" Tomoyo asked.  
" Sometimes. Usually not. In truth, he doesn't do that _all_ the time, just when he's extremely tired. Today was stupid." Eriol suddenly blushed. Tomoyo blinked.

The elevator opened, and the quintet went in. It's time to go home. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chamber Group

Chapter 12

" Can you imagine," Syaoran said to Tomoyo during lunch, " Going on stage without an audience?"

Tomoyo shuddered. " I would be so embarrassed!"

Sakura made her way to the table. " What's going on?" She asked, dropping her violin down on the floor next to a spare chair.   
" Oh," Syaoran laughed. " It's just a story my teacher told me. He had a friend who was a great pianist, and she was performing at this college; I forgot which one it was. So she was waiting backstage and the manager was like, ' are you ready' and ' whenever you're ready'. So he dims the lights, she walks out, bows, and notices that there's no audience."

Sakura, who was drinking water, spat it out violently in surprise. " Nani?!"

" Hai." Syaoran grinned. " There was no audience. So she went back in, and the manager was like, ' what's going on? What's wrong? Go back! Go back!' So she shows him what the problem was, and he nervously looks out, realizes, and was, of course, plenty embarrassed."  
" No wonder Mizuki-san invites so many people." Sakura blushed. " If I were to go out with no audience, I would be even more embarrassed then if I messed up in front of a full one."  
" I personally don't think there's a comparison." Syaoran chuckled. " Hopefully that will never happen to me in my lifetime."  
" What is this?" Tomoyo lifted with her chopstick something black from the noodle soup she bought at the cafeteria. The black ball had a very definete shape of-

" Ew! A boiled cockroach!"

Tomoyo became green. " I'm not hungry anymore."  
" You just paid twenty yen for a boiled cockroach." Syaoran began laughing at her. " Shows you how well the school's service is!"  
" Onegai." Tomoyo looked dully at the laughing boy beside her. " I nearly ate that thing."  
" No worries. Since it's boiled, all the bacteria would be dead. The enzymes would denature."  
" Why are you bringing biology to music school?" Sakura asked.  
" After a whole week of enzymes and their part in the digestion system and excretory system, one is bound to go crazy."  
" Excretory?"  
" Hai. We just did a urine lab on Wednesday. It smelled terrible."  
" Syaoran-kun! Spare us the details!" Sakura shouted.  
" Gomen nasai."

Eriol dumped his bag on the chair. " Good thing theory class was canceled today. I am so not in the mood for it."  
" Theory class was canceled?" Syaoran blinked.  
" You didn't know?"  
" Hurray!" Syaoran ignored him. " Besides, I lost the homework."  
" Say, what was supposed to be on the quiz?" Eriol asked. " Passing tones, suspensions, neighbor tones..."  
" That's basically it. She didn't go into much about the appogiaturas." Syaoran answered.

After finishing Syaoran stood up. " Sakura-san, do you want to go look for a practice room with me?"  
" Sure!" Sakura nodded.

Down came Meiling, who heard nothing so far. She threw her arms around the distressed Syaoran, who looked at Sakura for help. Then she threw a glare at Sakura.

Eriol and Syaoran sighed. Tomoyo just looked at Syaoran sympathetically.  
" Xiao Lang! Come practice with me!"  
" I'm coming. Sakura, you?"  
" Ano...sure?"

  
  
" A D G C. That's the same as the cello." Sakura observed.  
" Don't break it! Watch it!"  
" Meiling, it's only a viola." Syaoran muttered. " If you break Sakura's violin-how much does that violin cost?"  
" Bought it for around...well, Oni-san bought it in America, it costed like...around twenty-seven thousand American yen."  
" ?!?!?" Meiling gaped.

Syaoran began laughing at Meiling. " That violin of yours costed only that much Chinese yen. And to think!" He chuckled. " That was pretty expensive already. Let's see, if every eight yen in China equals one in America, then twenty seven thousand times eight equals-"  
" One ninety six thousand." Meiling gaped. " You must be rich!"

Syaoran laughed harder. " Meiling, it's only a viola." He repeated.

Meiling huffed, aware that she lost, and sat down unhappily.

  
  
Syaoran sat down heavily. He was bored. The guy was a bad composer. It sounded terrible. He fumbled a little with the attendance sheet.

Ahn Huilin, Female, Grade 9, fourteen years old.  
Haskins Dayne, Male, Grade 7, twelve years old.

There were some others in the composition class.

Li Syaoran, Male, Grade 8, thirteen years old.

Syaoran was about to put the attendance sheet down. There was nothing special about it. No one was ever absent.

Then something caught his eye.

Hiriingaziwa Eriol, Female, Grade 8, thirteen years old.

Syaoran stared at the sheet in surprise. He measured with his finger.

Yep, they were all on the same line.

" Eriol-san!" He called. Eriol looked up. Syaoran handed him the attendance sheet. " See anything wrong with it?"  
" Iie. What are you talking about?" Eriol blinked.

Syaoran pointed.

Eriol stared at the sheet and started laughing. The teacher turned around.  
" What's going on?" Asked Ushuro.

Eriol handed the attendance sheet to the teacher. The teacher stared at it and shrugged. " I don't know."  
" Look." Syaoran pointed at Eriol's name. " They said that Eriol's a girl!"  
" Nani?!" The students cried, and all began laughing as the teacher shook his head and chuckled.

  
  
" You know," Syaoran said to Eriol as they packed up after class, " You really should go to the main office."   
" Why?" Eriol asked.  
" Because they probably got the whole thing wrong in their computer." Syaoran laughed.

Eriol blinked. He had a perfect vision of it.

_" And the next graduate," The director announced on stage, " Is Hiriingaziwa Eriol! She's going to go to Oxford University in England majoring in science and technology! Where are her parents? Congratulations for your daughter!"_

  
" You know, I'll just do that." Eriol hurried out.

  
  
" What are you talking about?" Yamaguchi blinked. She stared at the two boys. " I don't think it's possible. Let me check." She called to one of the girls at the front desk.

The girl blinked, and turned around. There was a clicking of a mouse.

" Uh...let's see, Hiriingaziwa Eriol, eighth grader, goes to Tomoeda Middle School, been in this school for four years, got mostly A's, thirteen years old, a female, birthday's on-"

" NANI?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

  
  
" That's really sad Eriol." Syaoran chuckled. " Wait until the girls hear this."  
" You won't."  
" I will. Don't worry."  
" You won't!"  
" I will! I'll tell everyone that you were supposed to be a girl!"  
" Urgh..." Eriol growled. " It's not funny!"  
" It is so!"  
" Is not!"  
" Is so!"  
" What's going on?" Meiling blinked, coming with Tomoyo. " What are you two shouting about?"

Syaoran told her the whole story.

" Ai vei," Meiling shook her head. " These people are getting worse and worse."  
" Hai." Eriol and Syaoran agreed.

  
  
The next Saturday.

Syaoran went out of the main office. The girls were waiting for him.  
" What's going on?" Sakura asked.  
" Had my schedule changed. _Again._" Syaoran muttered dully. " But let's see, I think I have ear training with you."  
" Really? That's good." Sakura blinked. " Why did you change it?"  
" Schedule was bad." Syaoran sniffed. " I requested lunch."

Sakura burst into giggling. " Aww, poor you!"

Syaoran scowled. " Hey!"

  
  
Sakura went into the room where the chamber class was supposed to take place to find Syaoran already there. No one else was in there. She set her violin case down and opened it.

" Shoot, my bridge is going to collapse." She looked at the thing, trying to move it. It snapped.  
" Well, proves your point." Syaoran was staring at her. " Now what are you going to do?"

Sakura stared at the broken bridge and sighed.  
" Hai, what am I going to do?" She looked at Syaoran. " It's not like you have a spare bridge with you, do you?"  
" I'm a pianist. Not a violinist. What would I be doing with a bridge? But perhaps you can ask someone to borrow their violin maybe?"

Sakura blinked. " Hai...maybe I can ask the teacher."  
" Suits me." Syaoran shrugged. " This piano's so out of tune."  
" Hai, too bad you can't tune it." Sakura glanced at her violin. " Did you practice?"  
" Who practices for chamber?" Syaoran blinked. " I practiced a little," He admitted, " But I'm not intending to make Chamber my main course. I practiced my own pieces instead. What about you?"  
" Nah. I never practice in the beginning of the year." Sakura giggled.

The door opened.  
" So how are ye, lovebirds?" Tomoyo called, with Eriol following her.  
" N-Nani?!" The two shouted, then stared at each other, blushing hotly. Eriol and Tomoyo laughed.  
" What do you mean, lovebirds?" Syaoran yelled. " _We're just friends!"  
" Hai!"_ Sakura agreed.  
" Sure. Right." Eriol smirked. Syaoran rolled his eyes.

The two of them were blushing really hard. Eriol and Tomoyo laughed at them, until Meiling came in.

" Syaoran!" She chirped, wrapping her arms around the boy, who looked at his friends for help.   
" Ano...how are you Meiling?" Syaoran slowly freed himself from his cousin. " I have to...get to the piano!" He opened the lid and pretended to look for something. Meiling glared at Sakura.

" Hehe," Sakura really didn't like that.

  
  
" The thing about contemporary pieces is that you can't really tell whether the person makes a mistake or not because it still sounds like nonsense. That's the good thing. The bad thing is, _you_ don't know if you made a mistake because the notes just don't sound right to the ear."  
" Which is why learning Rachmaninov is so hard." Eriol muttered.  
" And any modern composer." Syaoran muttered. " I remember that time I played double piano with you. The worst mistake I ever made in my life."  
" Why?" Tomoyo asked.  
" He plays like a monster." Syaoran muttered, making Eriol blush. " I couldn't even hear myself. If I made any mistakes, no one heard. Eriol was just too loud."  
" Oh! I remember there was a chamber concert, and a set of double pianos. I didn't hear it, but they all told me it was terrible-" Sakura closed her mouth. Eriol glared at her.  
" Oh gee, thanks Sakura-san." Eriol said sarcastically.  
" See? Proves my point." Syaoran was laughing at his friend. " But when he plays the cello he plays like a shrimp. You won't hear a peep out of him."  
" That's bad though," The teacher had entered. " Because Eriol has the melody after a few pages."

The children looked at each other.

" Konnichiwa, Sensei." They said all together, like elementary school students.  
" What can we do for you today?" Syaoran asked. They all burst out laughing.

After a few minutes, Sakura borrowed a violin from the teacher, and they set to work organizing their parts. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chamber Group

Chapter 13

It was beginning to snow in late December. Purely for business, the school was going to close down for the next two weeks for Christmas. The group ventured down the hall heading towards where all the commotion was taking place.

" I heard Yoshihara's orchestra was even better this year." Sakura was saying. " Ever since the new guys came. Terada was telling us about it. He says they are playing this piece by Copland..."

The group turned around. " What happened?" Syaoran asked Marie.  
" They just found a bunch of rats."

Sakura and Eriol fell over and Tomoyo and Syaoran just grimaced.  
" EWW! Are you serious?" Sakura cried. Marie shook her head.   
" I couldn't believe it myself. But then I saw them. They're all dead. This school's infested with rats."

Syaoran paled. " I left my lunch downstairs."

Sakura paled too. " So did I."  
" You think they'll get them?" Eriol asked, doubtful. " We never had that problem before."  
" Relax guys!" Someone yelled. " They're fake!"

The whole group of people gathered in that area collapsed.

  
  
" Who would be so evil to play a prank like that?" Sakura gagged. " Leaving plastic and furry rats in the main hall? That's just gross!"  
" The director's going to look for whoever did this. Let's just pray it's not one of the parents."  
" Or teachers."  
" Or the director."  
" Syaoran!"

The group laughed.

" How's your brother doing in Tokyo?" Syaoran asked.  
" He's doing well." Sakura answered. " He said that once you get to college you can just cruise around. After all, whatever you do, all the businesses would be crawling to get to you. Wish I was that lucky."  
" Hey, we're only thirteen." Syaoran answered. " We still have a chance. We didn't even take the high school entrance exam yet."  
" Hai. Did you start preparing for it?"  
" Are you kidding? I'm going to prepare in several months during the summer."  
" Hai." Sakura shuddered. " Wish I would get into the best one."  
" Me too. Hey, and then we can go to school together! That'll be fun!" Syaoran laughed. " What about you, Tomoyo-chan? Are you preparing yet?"  
" Iie." Tomoyor rolled her eyes. " Who prepares this early?"  
" Eriol-san." Syaoran laughed, and Eriol punched him playfully.  
" I'm telling you, Hiriingaziwa Eriol is the nerd of our school." Syaoran laughed as Eriol began glaring daggers at him. " He could always be found with some book in his hand. He'll have no problem getting into Tokyo University."  
" Oh come on Syaoran." Eriol laughed.

  
  
" So the building went on fire, and Oni-chan went running out in his underwear." Sakura giggled. " He was like, crazy and hysterical. The whole building collapsed and the college was half tempted to suspend him. Oni-chan was like, ' that's not my fault!'"  
" So wait, did Touya get suspended then?" Eriol asked.  
" Iie. They decided to fire the janitor." Sakura laughed.  
" Aw, poor guy, but you have to admit, he's really stupid." Yamazaki grinned.  
" So what time is the concert?" Syaoran asked.  
" Seven thirty."  
" Gee, that's later than usual. It use to be at seven." Syaoran stared at Yamazaki.  
" Who cares, it's only a half an hour difference." Chiharu scowled.  
" Half an hour difference! The traffic will be horrible! I'll get home by around twelve or something!"  
" Stop whining." Eriol muttered.

Shiefa came downstairs and dropped her bag.  
" I am going to get a snack before I go to orchestra." She told Syaoran. " Have any yen?"  
" Nope. You know me."  
" Useless brother."  
" Hey!"

" Say, what are you going to do over the break?" Syaoran asked Sakura.  
" I'm just staying at home." Sakura answered. " What about you?"  
" I'm going back to Hong Kong. To see my relatives, and to practice my Cantonese." Syaoran blushed. " Luckily that's all I'll be doing."  
" Oh. Have fun." Sakura smiled.

  
  
_ Terada's losing his hair._ Sakura thought. _Terada's losing his hair. He's starting to become bald. Is he really that old?_

" Alright, you geniuses let's get started." Terada sat on his famous stool. " Oboe, could you please give us an A?"

The oboe was really squeaky.  
" Aw come on, don't tell me that thing broke! You, you give us an A, You over there, give me that oboe, let me see what's wrong with it."

After some tuning, Terada looked up at the boy and said something to him. The boy blushed, and then went to clean his oboe.  
" Saliva?" Sakura guessed. Tomoyo giggled.

After the woodwinds and the brass finished their tuning, Sakura's A string broke.

" Well, that's just great. Do you have a spare string?" Terada asked.  
" Iie." Sakura answered sheepishly. _Stupid weather. Would have thought winter would be more humid._  
" Any one of you violinists have an extra A string?" Terada called.  
" I have an extra bow but..." One girl frowned.  
" I have an extra violin I was carrying for my brother." Said a boy. He went to fetch it. Sakura put her own violin in its case unhappily.

_I like my violin just fine, arigatou._

  
  
" Ooh, what are you going to do during chamber?" Chiharu asked Sakura as they packed their things.  
" I have no idea." Sakura was annoyed. " How come _my_ violin always does these things?"  
" You're not the only one." Tomoyo answered.  
" I wish I played the cello sometimes." Sakura answered. " I mean, Oni-san's strings only pop once every two years. Generally."  
" Really? Those cellists are lucky. But then, if you want a really stable instrument, you should go for the basses." Noako laughed.  
" You know, I always thought the double basses should be the concert masters and mistresses." Sakura began.  
" Why?" Rika asked, not understanding as a pianist. " They just pluck whole notes on their strings. I don't even think they know how to play scales, judging from what they play in orchestra."  
" Exactly." Noako answered. " That's the point."  
" Oh, you know the best people for masters?" Chiharu suddenly got excited. " Drummers."  
" Drummers? I don't think they're even considered musicians."  
" Well for our purposes they are." Noako also got excited. " I have just the picture. You have this drummer, and he rolls a base drum up in front of the stage before the conductor arrives. Of course, he might accidentally hit the podium so it goes rolling to the side, but who cares? And he might damage the cellos and violins, but anyway. The oboe gives an A, and all that nonsense, right? Well, the concert whatever hits his bass drum like fifteen times or so. Then he rolls the bass drum to the back where he belongs. He might kill the harpists and a few other people but hey, what's a little murder?"

The rest of the girls were laughing by then at the picture of the idiotic concertmaster.

" I really like that one." Tomoyo giggled.  
" Yeah." Sakura agreed.

  
  
" SYAORAN!!!!"  
" Eriol!" Syaoran yelled, quickly ducking behind the other boy. " Save me! Save me!"  
" Huh?" Meiling blinked. Syaoran continued to hide behind Eriol.   
" Please please _please_ don't jump on me again!" Syaoran yelled. " Every time you do it you choke the life out of me!"  
" Poor kid finally snapped." Eriol answered with a smug smile. " Where have you been, Meiling?"  
" I was upstairs. They were having that Music Hour Concert." Meiling answered, for once being rather quiet. " I thought I would check out who's playing there."  
" Find anything remarkable?"  
" Not really."

Syaoran still hid behind Eriol.

" Uh, you can come out now?" Meiling was confused. Syaoran stepped out sheepishly.  
" Say, do you think I can make it for the concerto competition for strings?" Meiling asked.  
" But you just got in," Syaoran blinked, looking rather doubtful. " For violin or viola?"  
" Violin, of course. There aren't many good pieces for viola."  
" Not true." Syaoran answered dully, " Although there are a lot of violin pieces. You'll stand fierce competition, Meiling. And besides, why are you so interested? You have two more years."  
" Well, I thought since my cousin already had a chance to play with the orchestra-"  
" Believe me." Syaoran said hurriedly, and this time his face held a look of caring. " Playing with the orchestra is nothing remarkable-" And by this time Sakura and Tomoyo had come up, " At first I was so pleased when I won that I could get to play with the orchestra, but then on the first day Terada began yelling at the people in the back and I had to sit and play the same thing over and over again. By the time of the concert, you'll be already too bored and fed up with the stuff to care."  
" So that explains why you were so calm and reassured that day." Sakura answered good humoredly. " But you were always so enthusiastic."  
" Until the concert day." Syaoran admitted. " Believe me, it's nothing special. The drums in the background knock your ears out."  
" I'm fine with that." Meiling was looking at Syaoran in an odd way. Sakura giggled at Syaoran's expression.

" Stop scaring Meiling!" Sakura punched Syaoran's arm. " Besides, she's going to try out anyway, so you might as well give up."

Syaoran sighed. " The problem is," He muttered so only Sakura could hear, " She'll want me to play the orchestra part for her on the day of the competition."  
" Oh," Sakura mouthed, suddenly understanding. " But what's wrong with that?"  
" She thinks I'm Mozart." Syaoran hissed. " And when you're trying to play the entire orchestra-not pretty."

Sakura had to agree. She had seen the orchestra parts they wrote for the poor pianist. Thousands of octaves, it's amazing how stupid the editors are. Obviously the pianist can't play all that.

" And the dumb thing is," Syaoran voiced her thoughts, " The editors, even those of Henle, try to include every single instrument into the piano. What's up with that? And then Meiling expects me to play everything fluently. I'm thirteen years old for Kami's sake!"  
" Hey!" Meiling noticed Syaoran whispering to Sakura and was getting annoyed. " What are you gossiping about?"  
" Nothing." Sakura and Syaoran said simultaneously. Meiling narrowed her eyes at Sakura, who gulped.

  
  
" That went well." Sakura sighed as she sat down in her chair in chamber class. " That went so well."  
" What's wrong?" Syaoran asked, coming in. " I heard a sarcastic ' That went so well'. Something wrong?"  
" My lesson went poof! Because my violin went poof!" Sakura muttered. " And to think I practiced so long. Mizuki-sensei thought I poofed! My violin on purpose."  
" Glad I play the piano." Syaoran muttered, setting his books down. " On second thought, not glad." He stared at the piano for a while. " Why can't this school get decent pianos? With all the money we pay them, the cash goes to the people at the front desk to fatten up with chocolate and other nonsense."  
" Raising swine." Sakura laughed. " Poor pianists."  
" Where is everyone?" Syaoran asked.

  
  
" Just our luck." Eriol muttered. " The four of us, stuck between the fifth and sixth floor."

The teacher and the girls sighed.

" Wonder how Sakura-chan and Syaoran are doing." Tomoyo blinked. " Do you think they're stuck too?"  
" They're not here. I don't think the other elevator's stuck." Meiling muttered. " When I get my hands on her..."  
" Looks like we'll be here for a while." Yoshihara cocked an eyebrow. " This school is an embarrassment."

  
  
" Even the teacher's late." Syaoran glanced at the clock in the hall before withdrawing his head from the door and shutting it.  
" Say, maybe we can run off." He suddenly suggested to Sakura. " Just pretend that we couldn't find them."  
" Nah." Sakura shook her head. " Let's go down to the office. Maybe Sensei told us to go somewhere instead and we didn't get a chance to know."

Syaoran shrugged. " Whatever."  
" Let's leave our stuff here." He suggested after a moment. " No one wants a broken violin."  
" Hey! My violin's _not_ broken!" Sakura protested. Syaoran laughed as they went out of the room.

  
  
" Your friends are probably in the elevator." Said the director, a little sheepish. " It got stuck fifteen minutes ago."

Syaoran glanced at Sakura, looking like he'll laugh his head off. Sakura looked at him, delighted.  
" How long will they take to fix this?" Sakura asked.  
" About an hour." The director answered. " Quite some time."

With that, the two children rushed out.

" Mama! I can go home now!" Syaoran yelled.  
" Otou-san!" Sakura shouted. " I don't have chamber today! Let's be off!"

  
  
" Just how long are we going to be stuck in this elevator?" Eriol asked.  
" About an hour." The custodian was climbing on a rope. " Need to find out what the problem is without breaking one of the ropes...

Gulp.

  
  
After the break

" I can't believe you left me there!" Eriol cried. " Why were you in such a hurry to get away? And I thought you were going to listen to the concert!"

Syaoran snickered.

" I heard there's another elevator that got stuck today." Sakura piped in.  
" Let's hope Terada's in there." Tomoyo said hurriedly.  
" Gosh, you guys are so evil." Meiling observed.

There was a silence.

" Terada getting stuck in that elevator would be a good idea." Chiharu agreed.  
" I'm hoping every single teacher we know is stuck in that elevator." Syaoran closed his eyes.  
" Well, arigatou!"

Syaoran whirled around. Yoshihara was looking at him with an amused expression.

_Oops._

" Well, you have to admit," Syaoran tried to save himself, " It would be rather interesting."

Eriol slapped his forehead. His glasses fell off.

" I understand." Yoshihara was apparently in a good mood that day. " I got stuck last time, so I guess I'll be an exception."  
" Yoshihara-san!"  
" Hai?" Yoshihara turned around.

The conductor left.

Eriol suddenly started laughing-while searching for his glasses. Syaoran heaved a sigh of relief.  
" You're lucky Yoshihara's not as bad as he use to be, otherwise I think he'll give you an F." Eriol snickered.  
" I can't believe he snuck up on us like that!" Syaoran wailed.  
" He was right there." Sakura answered. " We were just waiting for you to make a fool of yourself."  
" Oh, you are so wicked!" Syaoran yelled.  
" You actually pulled it off pretty well." In truth, Meiling didn't know who Yoshihara was.  
" A ha..." Syaoran looked unhappy. " I have to get to class now..."

  
  
" How was Hong Kong?" Sakura asked Syaoran as they nearly crashed into each other on the stairs. " I never had a chance to ask."  
" Tiresome. I'm glad to be back." Syaoran answered absentmindedly. " How's your break?"  
" Uneventful." Sakura answered.

  
  
  
" Did they get the elevator fixed yet?"  
" Nope."  
" After _three hours?!_"  
" The elevator was heavy. The strings nearly broke."  
" _Strings?"_  
" Ropes, I mean."

Eriol shuddered and secretly thanked whatever god there was that he hadn't been stuck in that elevator last week.

Yoshihara entered the room. " Alright, listen, get things ready. I'm not in a good mood today. Two people were absent from my string quartet and I had to grab my own violin for that-you won't find me carrying my violin all the time today you're lucky, and why is it taking so long for you to set things up we already wasted five minutes of our class!"

Eriol cursed whatever god there was that didn't put Yoshihara in that elevator.

" There's still a chance that..." Sakura whispered, " Terada's in that elevator."  
" Hai. Let's just hope that the elevator can stay stuck for another two hours," Eriol crossed his fingers.  
" You two are so mean." Yamazaki laughed quietly as he moved the chairs into various neat rows. " If you two were stuck in that elevator you wouldn't be talking."  
" Obviously," Sakura began, " If we were stuck in that elevator, the worse that could happen is we'll die of starvation. We wouldn't have to go to class."  
" This came from the winner of the string competition?" Yamazaki blinked, amazed. " Sakura!"  
" Alright, quit chatting, we have work to do. I have to hand these tests out now, you have twenty minutes to fill in the instruments and to do the transpositions. And as I said before, ' if you look like you look like you're looking, I take your paper away'. And give you a zero, but we won't talk about that. I want you to use pen for the fill-ins and pencil for the transpositions. You may begin."

_ I didn't know we had a test!_ Eriol thought, panicking.

_I didn't study! I can't believe I forgot we're having a test!_ Yamazaki thought, and he silently cursed Kami for not dumping Yoshihara in that elevator.

  
  
" How's your violin?" Tomoyo asked.  
" Better." Sakura stuck her tongue at her friend. " It doesn't break _all the time._"  
" Looks like Terada's late." Tomoyo looked at the entrance. " Do you think he's in the...?"  
" I hope so." Sakura grinned. " We can skip the two hours of orchestra in that case."  
" Did they fix that thing yet?" Chiharu asked. " It's been four hours already!"

Eriol slumped down with his cello. " I failed that test."  
" Don't worry!" Sakura called. " I did too! I think I got a one on that test, and there are no zeros behind it...only before it."  
" Arigatou." Eriol sent her a flat glare before sitting down and tuning his cello.

Sakura shrugged. She sat down on the concertmistress seat and began tuning her own violin. There was a loud crash of cymbals, but everyone ignored it.

Half an hour passed. Sakura looked up.

" Hey!" She called, and all of the sudden the whole orchestra was silent.

" Half an hour has passed already. It's obvious Terada's not coming. Why don't we just go?" She asked.

There was a heavy silence.

Then everyone left their chairs and carried their instruments to the cases-except for the harpists and the percussionists, who just left the instruments where they were and left.

  
  
" You would think that after they invented the elevator that it would take them less than five hours to fix an elevator that's stuck between two floors." Syaoran sighed.  
" Actually, this time," It was Liang who was talking. " It appeared on the fourth floor, I think, but the doors wouldn't open."

Nearly everyone fell over-literally.

" Exactly how hard is it to get _two doors_ open?" Syaoran asked.  
" Apparently very hard, judging from how long they took so far." Rika answered.  
" It's already two." Syaoran glanced at the clock. " I feel sorry for the people in there now."  
" I wish I listened to that concert." Sakura muttered. " But ditching school was worth it."  
" I heard it wasn't that good." Rika comforted her. " Somewhere when the violinist was playing, one of the harps crashed into the brass section.

There was a moment of silence.

" These kinds of things don't usually happen do they?" Syaoran wanted to make sure.  
" You're in this school." Noako pointed out quite flatly. " What couldn't happen?"

  
  
" How did they free those people?" Syaoran asked as he dropped his books in chamber class.  
" Did the only thing their brains could come up with. They melted the doors."

Syaoran choked and stared at Eriol. " They _what?!_"  
" After what...seven hours of trying to get those cursed doors open they _still_ didn't get it to open?!"  
" They melted the doors."  
" You're serious."  
" I'm serious."  
" They melted the doors of the elevator?"  
" Hai."  
" You mean they _still_ didn't find a way to open the doors."  
" Hai."  
" What's wrong with these people?"  
" Hey, don't ask me." Eriol shrugged. " If they plan to waste money on replacing doors, let them. We already paid our tuition."

  
  
" I'm telling you, this situation's no longer funny." Syaoran shook his head at Meiling. " Working and hacking at that elevator for seven hours! Those people didn't even have any lunch!"

The sensei entered, looking rather tired, and scanned the room.  
" Sakura, Tomoyo, and Meiling are late."  
" Hai sensei."  
" Boy, I am going to fear the elevators in this building from now on." The teacher sat down. " Getting stuck like that? And what kind of fools would spend seven hours trying to open the doors of an elevator only to melt it in the end?"  
" The custodian?" 

Eriol snorted.

  
" Ah well," Syaoran sighed, " Too bad we won't be able to skip classes like this every Saturday."  
" It's quite unruly." Sakura admitted, " But only retards wouldn't take this chance."  
" Now we have to deal with one elevator since the other has no door."

" This isn't funny anymore." Meiling agred with Syaoran as they headed out of the building to end their day. 


End file.
